


Mamma Mia, Amy March!

by xForeverYoursx



Category: Little Women (2019), Little Women Series - Louisa May Alcott, Mamma Mia! (Movies)
Genre: 1970's fic, AU Fic, And they have bigger parts, F/M, Gen, It's a romance but also very family-oriented between Amy and her family, Sofia & Lazaros from "Mamma Mia: Here We Go Again" are also in this, also another "Beth Doesn't Die" fic so YAY!, and her Found Family
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-30
Updated: 2021-02-10
Packaged: 2021-03-11 05:15:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 15
Words: 43,971
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28419720
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/xForeverYoursx/pseuds/xForeverYoursx
Summary: What would their story be like if Amy and Laurie had met up during her Europe trip on a Greek island, instead of in France? And what if it was the 1970's, not the 1860's?...Well, it would look an awful lot like "Mamma Mia: Here We Go Again", I can tell you that.Add some meddling by the March sisters, a Greek fairy godmother, her son - a restaurant owner/performer (who also makes a good boss), and you've got a WHOLE lot of drama, humor, and love.
Relationships: Amy March & Elizabeth March, Amy March & Josephine March, Amy March & Margaret March, Friedrich Bhaer & Josephine March, Theodore Laurence/Amy March, Theodore Laurence/Josephine March
Comments: 92
Kudos: 97





	1. Knowing Me, Knowing You

The first night Amy and Laurie saw each other on the Greek island of Kalokairi, it had been raining. Well, that was an understatement. It was a torrential downpour. And of course, Amy had been walking in it, getting soaked to the bone. All she was wearing were jean shorts and a thin, oversized, peasant top with a bikini top underneath, so not only was she soaked, but she was probably also on her way to freezing to death.

The weather had been so beautiful and sunny that afternoon, so she had wanted to go out to the hills overlooking the docks and paint the waterfront. Aunt March had agreed to let her go, choosing to stay behind and keep an eagle eye on Sofia, their sweet Greek housekeeper. The older woman was making them dinner, and Aunt march wanted to “make sure that she’s trustworthy” and would abide by Aunt March’s strict diet.

As she’d painted, Amy had noticed the clouds rolling in over the blue sea, but she’d loved the scenery too much to want to pack up just yet. So, of course, she’d waited until that first big clap of thunder boomed overhead, scaring her half to death.

When the rain had started to come down, Amy had rushed to put her canvas, brushes, and paints in her bag, and with the large bag and her easel held awkwardly under her arm, she’d started running as fast as she could back in the direction of the house.

She’d never enjoyed rain very much in Massachusetts, because it always felt like a cold, miserable hindrance to her. Jo had never let rain stop her of course, she’d go out dancing in it, stomping in puddles and lifting her face to the sky, loving the feeling of getting completely and utterly drenched.

Amy had never been like that. But as she ran that night, on that island, in the rain, she couldn’t help but smile just a little. The air felt warmer in Greece than it did back home, and something just felt…different. Better.

She’d continued running and that’s when she saw Laurie. Well, he saw her first, which was good because if he hadn’t noticed her, he’d have run right over her with his motorcycle.

They’d laughed and hugged, and she hopped on the back of his bike and he took her home to Aunt March.

As they reached the large vacation house, Laurie stopped the bike.

“Wait here!” Amy had shouted as she hopped off, a bit ungracefully, with her all of her art supplies.

She put the canvas and paints down just inside the front door, then ran back out into the rain to Laurie.

“You can’t possibly wanna go for another ride in this weather…!” Laurie shouted over the rain, wearing that smirk that Amy loved so much.

Amy shook her head.

“Come for dinner tomorrow!” she shouted.

“What?”

“ _Come for dinner tomorrow_!” she shouted again, louder this time. “…If you want to?”

Laurie smiled, even though he was getting soaked to the bone and starting to shiver just a little, and nodded.

“I’d love to!” he agreed.

And though she herself was shivering, Amy smiled.

A boom of thunder sounded, bringing Amy out of her daze.

“Be here at seven, sharp!” she called over her shoulder, as she ran for the protection of the covered porch.

“I will!” Laurie replied, and started to turn his motorcycle back around.

“Drive safe!” Amy shouted.

Laurie put his hand up in a goodbye wave as he rode away from the house.

Amy smiled and entered the large house, immediately seeing Aunt March standing right in front of her.

And as usual, Aunt March did not look pleased.

“Amy March!” she exclaimed. “You are soaked to the bone! Are you trying to catch your death out there, just for a few paintings?”

Amy couldn’t help herself, she grinned.

“Laurie’s here, on the island,” she said. “He’s coming here for dinner tomorrow at seven.”

And without waiting for a reply, Amy rushed excitedly up the stairs to her room.

She just couldn’t wait to see Laurie again.

\------

She had gotten a letter from Marmee while she’d been in Paris, saying that Laurie would be in Europe around the same time as she and Aunt March. He was taking a solo backpack-trip around Europe, as a lot of young people liked to do. In fact, that was also why Amy was in Europe. She had wanted to celebrate her graduation from her two-year degree in art school with a solo-European-backpacking-adventure. But as soon as Aunt March had heard about it, she, ironically, wouldn’t hear of it.

So, Amy had a chaperone. She stayed in fancy hotels instead of youth hostels. She went to some extremely boring dinners with Aunt March’s acquaintances instead of all of the popular pubs she’d heard about. And, as soon as she’d gotten Marmee’s letter, she found herself looking for Laurie around every city they visited.

But she never saw him, and never heard from him at all.

She knew why he was really in Europe, of course – Marmee’s letter had also given that news.

He’d finally proposed to Jo, and she’d turned him down.

They hadn’t even dated at all, but Laurie had been so in love with her for so many years that Amy supposed his thought process had been the old ‘all-or-nothing’ plan.

Unfortunately for him, it hadn’t worked. Jo just didn’t have those feelings for him. Which surprised everyone, because Amy, her sisters, her parents, and even Laurie’s grandfather had always thought that Laurie and Jo would end up together. The two had been inseparable since they first met, and they were so close.

But evidently, though she loved Laurie, Jo was not _in love._

So, Laurie was clearly not just backpacking around Europe – he was also _sulking_ around Europe, nursing his broken heart and wounded pride.

And as Amy opened the door to greet him the next night, she saw that he was clearly still healing.

Of course, what some people may call “healing”, others (Aunt March included) would just call drunk.

Laurie smiled at her, his body wavering as he stood on the porch. His eyes were glassy, his hair was slightly tousled, and he smelled like bourbon. But he still tried to pass himself off as charming as he held out a small bouquet of flowers to Amy.

“Hello Amy,” he said. “…I brought these for you and Aunt March.”

Amy was furious. Five minutes beforehand, she had been rushing to get ready and make herself more than presentable for this young man that she’d had a crush on since she was twelve. She was wearing new earrings, makeup, and a white and purple dress that she had bought in town that day, hoping to impress Laurie.

…And now she was the one who was unimpressed.

She stepped out onto the porch with Laurie and grabbed the flowers away from him, tossing them on a bench seat under the window next to her.

“ ‘M sorry those got a little messy on the way over,” said Laurie, with a smirk. This smirk didn’t make Amy’s stomach didn’t do flip-flops though.

“Yeah, it looks like they weren’t the only ones,” Amy snapped, looking Laurie up and down, taking in his disheveled appearance. “Please tell me you didn’t ride over drunk on your motorcycle.”

“No, I walked,” Laurie replied, and he let his arm reach out then flop back down in the direction of the ocean view. “It’s such a nice night for it, don’t you think? Plus, I’d had a couple drinks earlier – “

“ – Yeah, it smells like you had more than a couple,” Amy grumbled, as she walked past him, down the steps and out onto the front lawn. She walked over to the tree that she knew was just out of view of the front window, if Aunt March tried to spy on them, and turned to see if Laurie was at least following her.

He was. He wasn’t exactly walking in a straight line, but he had followed her to the tree.

“Look, I’m sorry if I’m a little late – “

“ – You’re an _hour_ late,” Amy hissed. “You look like a mess, you smell like alcohol, and you were seriously going to present yourself to my great aunt looking like this?!”

To her utter horror, Laurie just shrugged.

“…Well, she’s never liked me, anyway,” he said. “Anyway, you wouldn’t have had to put up with me for long. I was just gonna eat and be on my way to a poker game – “

Amy March had never punched anyone in her life. She’d scrapped with her sisters, sure, but they’d never done any major physical violence too each other.

…That was why she was surprised, and a little impressed with herself, when she landed such a good punch to Laurie’s left eye.

Amy wasn’t strong enough to knock Laurie off his feet, but the hit did cause him to stumble. He groaned in pain, putting a hand over his eye.

“Go home, Laurie,” she said, coldly. “…Whether it’s in a shack on the beach, or a hotel, or literally under a rock, I don’t care. But there’s no rain tonight. So if the walk over didn’t sober you up, hopefully the walk back will. Goodnight.”

With that, Amy marched back across the yard and into the house, not even bothering to collect the flower bouquet from the seat on the porch.

\------

The next morning, Amy was in her room and brushing her hair, having just gotten out of the shower. She was only wearing a towel, but since it was just Aunt March and Sofia who were in the house, she wasn’t too on guard when she heard a knock on her bedroom door.

“Come in!” she called.

The door opened and Sofia stuck her head in and smiled at Amy.

“Good morning Miss Amy,” she greeted with a smile.

Amy smiled back. She’d always loved Sofia, ever since she met her, on the day she and Aunt March moved into the large vacation house.

“Good morning Sofia,” she greeted.

“Miss Amy, there is young man at the door to see you,” said Sofia. “Says his name is ‘Laurie’, and I’m not sure if that’s supposed to be some kind of inside joke, because that is girl’s name, no?”

Amy chuckled.

“Please tell him to come back later,” she said. “I haven’t even had breakfast.”

“Mr. Laurie says he is wanting to take you out for breakfast,” Sofia replied.

Amy considered it for a moment.

“How’s his facial expression?” Amy asked.

“He look very guilty,” said the older woman. “…Like he kicked a puppy or something. He also got ugly black eye.”

“How ugly?”

“Very ugly,” said Sofia. “He still look like a good-looking young man, though.”

Amy sighed.

“Yeah, I knew he would…” she grumbled. “Tell him I’ll be down in ten minutes, and he can wait for me outside.”

“Not in sitting room?” Sofia asked.

“No, he waits outside,” Amy told her.

Sofia nodded and shut the door, heading back downstairs to give the message to Laurie.

When Amy finally came out to see Laurie, she’d made him wait for twenty minutes. She was wearing flowy, orange pants with a floral print (that Aunt March had always said were better off being a skirt), a light blue tankini top, and a jean jacket.

That hadn’t taken twenty minutes to get ready, it had really only taken five. For the other fifteen minutes, she’d been flipping through a magazine.

She walked out to meet Laurie, who was standing on the front lawn.

“I’m surprised you didn’t make me wait a whole hour,” said Laurie, giving her a small smile.

“Well, I’m hungry, and I hear you’re offering me breakfast,” Amy replied. “You look awful.”

That wasn’t completely true. Sofia had been right, unfortunately, Laurie was still good-looking despite his black eye and slightly pale complexion. He had also chosen to brush his hair and wear clean and tidy clothes that morning, which helped.

“I feel awful,” he replied.

“Hangover?” Amy quipped, dryly.

“Yes, but I wasn’t just referring to that,” Laurie told her. “I’m sorry for how I behaved.”

“Have you been drinking this morning?” she asked.

“No,” he told her. “Amy, why are you being so hard on me?”

“Clearly, someone has to be,” she said. “Now, come on, take me to breakfast. I’m starving.”

They rode into town on Laurie’s motorcycle to get breakfast and took it to eat on the beach. Laurie had luckily packed a blanket, so they sat down and made a picnic out of it.

While they ate their breakfast, Laurie suddenly looked over at Amy, a serious look on his face.

“I really am sorry,” he said. “Did Aunt March say anything?”

“No, she hadn’t seen you,” Amy replied, popping a piece of melon into her mouth. “I just told her you were looking ill, probably from being out in the storm the other night, and I insisted you leave, to take care of yourself.”

“Well, I’m glad she didn’t see me,” said Laurie “…but I am sorry you had to see me like that.”

“Me too,” Amy replied, finally looking him in the eye.

“…You’ve probably heard by now why I’ve been so…sad, and pathetic,” he said. “I’m trying my best to get over it – “

“ – No, you’re not, “ said Amy.

“OK, so my coping mechanisms haven’t been the greatest,” Laurie admitted. “But what else am I supposed to do?”

“Well, for starters, give yourself _time_ to heal, not alcohol,” Amy told him.

“Fair enough,” he said, then he glanced over at her. “Can I still spend time with you?”

“When you’re sober, yes,” she said.

“You know, if you ever want to have a drink with me, you can,” said Laurie. “The legal age to drink in Greece is 18.”

“We’ll see,” said Amy. “For now, let’s try spending some time doing something other than drinking, OK?”

Laurie smiled, and nodded.

“OK,” he said. “So, what would you like to do first…?”

They started with a ride around the island on Laurie’s motorcycle. He took her up to see the farmhouse he’d rented, which she immediately loved.

He could have rented (or bought, for that matter) any of the more elegant houses on the island, but he’d chosen a large rundown farmhouse.

Amy knew he’d been drawn to it because it reflected his mood, after being turned down by Jo. He needed repairs, just like that house.

Amy and Aunt March were staying in one of the grander estates on the island, which she’d enjoyed, but she also loved the character of Laurie’s old farmhouse.

It reminded her of her family home in Massachusetts. It wasn’t grand, but it had lots of colour inside, and it gave you a warm fuzzy feeling when you stepped in the door…it just felt like home. True, the farmhouse was what Marmee would call “A fixer-upper”, but it held a lot of promise.

They started to spend more and more days together after that. Sometimes Aunt March would come along with them begrudgingly for lunch or dinner (she still didn’t wholly approve of Laurie), but most of the time it was just the two of them. Going out for walks around the island, spending time at the farmhouse, having picnics on the beach, and occasionally having drinks at the bar in town.

Laurie became more and more present during their time together, like he wasn’t thinking about Jo as much anymore. It was like, when he looked into Amy’s eyes, he was finally seeing her. Not Jo. Not Jo’s sister. Not “little Amy”. Amy March, the young woman.

He had been starting to make her feel like…like he liked her. Really liked her. Like he cared for her, not in a brotherly way, but in a way like, maybe, he wanted to hold her, and kiss her, and never let her go.

And one night, he did kiss her. He walked her home, and the moon was so bright, and shining off the ocean in front of them, and it had been beautiful…and Laurie had been beautiful.

And that was the very first time he’d told Amy that she was beautiful.

She had smiled, glad the moon wasn’t so bright that he could see her blushing. Then he’d leaned down and kissed her.

The next day, he rode up to Aunt March’s vacation home, because they had made plans to see some more sights that day.

He was a half hour late.

Amy would have tried to call him, but he didn’t have a phone in the farmhouse.

Amy had been waiting for him on the porch and just when she was about to give up and go inside, Laurie rode up on his motorcycle. He killed the engine, hopped off the bike, and started apologizing profusely. First for being late…then for kissing her the night before.

“…It was stupid, I wasn’t thinking,” he said, in a rushed voice. “It was impulsive, I just got caught up in the moment, and your aunt doesn’t even like me, I don’t think even _a little_ – “

Amy had rolled her eyes, grabbed him by the arm, and dragged him over to the tree that was just beyond the view of the front window.

Once Amy had gotten Laurie over to the tree, she pushed him back against the trunk.

Laurie’s eyes widened. “Oh my God, you’re not gonna hit me again, are you?”

“So, you’re gonna blame it on the moonlight, is that it?” Amy replied. “It was just a ‘heat of the moment’ thing?”

“Well, I mean…it was a very nice moment.”

“Yes, it was,” said Amy. “And now it’s daytime. There’s no big romantic moon. The sun’s out.”

“Well, yeah, I did notice that,” said Laurie.

“So now that the sun’s out, and the harsh light of day is upon us, you don’t wanna kiss me again, is that what you mean?”

“Well – “

“ – And you regret kissing me last night?”

“I – “

“ – Laurie, do you like me at all?” Amy asked.

“What? Of course I do!” Laurie exclaimed.

“Just not romantically?” Amy asked.

“ I…I mean – “

“What?” said Amy. “What do you mean? We’ve been spending so much time together Laurie, just the two of us, and I’ve grown up and so have you and I’ve seen the way you’ve been looking at me, and not just last night either, but for weeks, Laurie! Weeks! But as I said, I’m a grown-up now, so if I’m misinterpreting things, just tell me. We can just be friends, that’s fine. But please just be honest with me!”

Laurie stared at her for a moment.

“…I have wanted to kiss you for weeks,” he said.

“Well, then do it again, damnit!” she said, resisting the urge to stomp her foot (after all, she had just made an argument that she was a grown-up now).

Laurie instantly cupped her chin and brought his lips to hers. As they kissed, she wrapped her arms around him and held him tightly.

Finally, he broke the kiss and smiled at her. “Where do you wanna go today?” he asked. “I’ll take you anywhere.”

“The beach,” Amy replied, with a smile. “Let’s go to the beach.”

So they spent that day at the beach, running in and out of the waves, splashing each other and laughing. But they would also stand in the surf and share heated kisses as the waves crashed around them.

Things were finally different for them. In a new, amazing way.

\--------

Amy hadn’t told Aunt March that she and Laurie had grown closer. She knew that the older woman would instantly put a stop to it (maybe even send her back to Massachusetts) if she found out.

So naturally, Amy’s solution was to constantly sneak out her bedroom window after her elderly aunt went to bed.

The first time, Amy hadn’t really been expecting anything to happen. She just wanted to see Laurie. It had been over a week since they’d admitted their feelings for each other, and they just couldn’t seem to get enough of each other. They hadn’t been able to see each other for dinner that day because Aunt March had insisted that Amy stay in with her for the evening. But to make up for that lost time, when Amy got to Laurie’s farmhouse, he had a quaint, gorgeous dinner laid out for them on his kitchen table…complete with candles.

He had assured her that he hadn’t cooked the souvlaki himself, he’d picked it up from their favourite restaurant in town. He had prepared a nice fruit plate for dessert though.

After dinner, they cleared the table and washed the dishes (he washed, she dried), and then Laurie turned on the small radio he had on the counter.

A nice slow song came on, and Laurie smiled and offered Amy his hand, as the sweet music drifted through the kitchen.

“My lady…” he said, with a smile.

Amy smiled and took his hand.

“My lord,” she replied.

He pulled her close and held her while they danced. While they swayed, his breath was constantly tickling her ear and Amy thought she might explode.

She pulled back slightly to look into his eyes and Laurie smiled at her.

“What?” he asked.

“…Do you trust me?” she asked, as she stared into his eyes.

Laurie frowned in confusion.

“Of course, I do,” he said.

“I trust you, too,” she told him.

“OK, that’s…that’s great,” he said, still not sure about what was happening.

“Laurie…” she said “…blow out the candles.”

It had been a little awkward that first time (Meg had always told her it would be). They’d gone up to his bedroom and just sort of stared at each other for a moment at first, before they started kissing. He’d been nervous, and she’s been nervous, and both their hands were shaking, and Amy had a bruise on her upper arm where Laurie had accidentally elbowed her.

He had been so worried about her. Always asking if he was hurting her. Constantly apologizing and asking if she wanted to stop (Amy’s constant reply had been “DON’T YOU DARE!”).

When Amy had woken up a few hours later, wrapped in Laurie’s arms, she gazed out the window and saw that the pink hue of the morning sunrise was just starting to show. She would have to go back to Aunt March’s soon.

Amy turned to face Laurie, who was still fast asleep. His brown curls swept across his forehead, and Amy wished she had a camera so that she could take a polaroid and label it ‘Theodore Laurence and His Amazing Bedhead’. It would be a nice keepsake.

Instead of looking for a camera though, Amy reached out a finger and lightly pressed in the end of Laurie’s nose, like it was an ‘ON’ button.

It worked. Laurie’s sniffed and wiggled his nose, making Amy giggle, then he opened his eyes and smiled at her.

“I just woke up and you’re laughing at me already?” he joked, his voice groggy. “That’s a nice start to a fella’s day…”

“I’m not laughing, I’m giggling,” she corrected him. “Laughing can have negative connotations, but giggling tends to be more positive. It showcases my femininity, and it just means I’m…gleeful.”

Laurie smirked, his head still on the pillow, and he lightly twisted a strand of Amy’s long honey-blonde hair around his finger.

“Gleeful, huh?” he asked.

“Well, I’m certainly not ungleeful,” Amy replied.

He smiled, but then his face got serious for a moment, a look of concern in his eyes.

“So, you’re OK?” he asked. “You feel OK?”

“I feel fine,” she reassured him. “Are you OK?”

Laurie smiled, untangled her hair from his finger, and stretched his arms above his head.

“Well, I’m certainly not ungleeful,” he joked.

Amy snorted, but then her eyes softened.

“I have to go,” she said, her voice barely above a whisper even though no one else was around. “Aunt March will be awake soon and if she finds out I’m not in my own bedroom there’ll be Hell to pay.”

“I’m rich, I’ll pay,” Laurie replied, with a grin.

Amy chuckled, and kissed him. Then she paused for a moment and combed her fingers through his dark hair.

“We may not see each other today, depending on what Aunt March has planned for me,” she said. “…Would you be so kind my lord, as to give me something to remember you by until we meet again?”

Laurie quirked an eyebrow.

Then Amy smiled.

“Or perhaps,” she said “…I’ll give _you_ something to remember _me_ by.”

She then moved to straddle his hips, and as she leaned down to kiss his mouth, and then his neck, she felt like she’d never been happier.

It was a blissful few months for Amy. She finally had the attentions and affections of Theodore Laurence, the boy-next-door she’d been in love with for years. It felt like fate. Everything was finally falling into place. She wasn’t world-famous, but she wasn’t in anyone’s shadow, either. This life she was living on this island was the life she wanted forever.

She told Laurie that during a boat ride one day.

He had rowed them out far from the beach, making Amy laugh, and also get slightly nervous, while he fumbled a bit with the oars.

“…I think I wanna stay here forever,” she said. “Honestly, I think I just might.”

“Well, you may have to, if I can’t row us back to shore,” Laurie joked.

Amy laughed and he snapped a few photos of her with his camera.

“I mean it!” she said. “I could absolutely live here for the rest of my days…and I think you should too. I think we should decide to do something truly crazy like that. And who knows? It could turn into something…something miraculous.”

Laurie smiled, but his smile seemed unsure.

“…I just don’t think it’s that simple,” he said. “Nothing is.”

Amy shrugged.

“Everything is, when you break it down.”

Amy seemed to think about it for a moment, then he lifted his eyes to meet hers.

“…I don’t think it’s crazy,” he finally said.

Amy grinned.

“That’ll do,” she said. “…For now.”

It had all felt like some kind of dream come true.

But she should’ve known. Dreams weren’t meant to be lived in. Dreams were meant to be woken up from.

They were the sweet interludes before reality came back into play.

Amy finally woke from her own dream on the morning she found Laurie’s journal.

\------

She’d been rooting around in the farmhouse kitchen, searching for the proper utensils to make breakfast for the two of them. She had even dressed in a rush that morning, being so excited with her plan of a special romantic breakfast for Laurie. She wore one of his t-shirts and tied a knot in the bottom so it fit a bit better, and she put on the orange bohemian skirt that she’d worn yesterday (she didn’t have much choice anyway, as she didn’t have any clothes at his place). 

Orange was his favourite color, so she liked to wear it.

She picked some peaches out in the small orchard next to the farmhouse, and while Laurie was upstairs penning a letter to his grandfather, Amy started to get organized, making special peach pancakes.

Then she’d found the journal. He’d left it in a kitchen drawer, of all places. She knew it was wrong to look through people’s personal journals (she’d repeatedly gotten in trouble for looking in Meg’s and Jo’s when she was younger), but she couldn’t help it. Truth be told, she’d wanted to see if he’d written anything about her.

He’d written a few things, a few romantic things, which were incredibly sweet and made Amy blush a bit to read.

But most of it, even an entry written just a couple weeks ago, was about Jo.

He’d been missing her. He wondered how she was doing. _He felt conflicted about_ _having feelings for two women at the same time….!_

Tears had stung Amy’s eyes as she flipped through the journal. Laurie even had a couple photographs of Jo tucked inside the pages.

Jo. Jo. Jo. Jo. JO!

She had been such a fool to believe that things were starting to change. That Theodore Laurence had changed his mind and was falling in love with _her_ and letting go of her sister.

But she realized she was just as stupid as she’d ever been.

Laurie could never let go of Jo. Ever.

But he’d made her believe that he could, that _he had_. The way he looked at her, the things he said to her, the way he touched her during the nights they spent together….

Amy threw his journal clear across the room. She was feeling so much rage and hatred in that moment, but mostly she hated herself for being so utterly stupid.

And when Laurie finally came downstairs, having finished his letter, and gave her a bright smile…Amy responded by throwing peaches at him.

And then she stormed out of the kitchen. And he rushed after her.

\---------

Amy was so furious, and moving so fast, that her skirt was practically billowing out behind her. She stormed through the farmhouse with the front door in her sights, when she felt Laurie grab her wrist and pull her backward.

She whirled around to face him. He actually looked confused, the daft boy.

“Amy, what on earth did I do…?!”

“Do?!” she replied. “Why nothing, Laurie. You’ve done nothing. I thought we were having a good time together, an amazing time together, actually! We’ve grown so much closer and we’ve gotten to know each other as grown ups. I mean I’d say our relationship is certainly more mature these days, wouldn’t you?”

Before Laurie could respond, Amy went right on talking.

“…But I just realized that I was wrong” and Amy let out a hollow, humorless laugh. “… I was _so_ wrong, Laurie! You’re still just the same lovesick boy you’ve always been…for _Jo_. I mean she’s all you talk about in your damn journal. Even though I’m the one you’ve been spending time with! I’m the one you’ve been saying all those sweet things to, I’M THE ONE YOU’VE BEEN SLEEPING WITH…!”

Laurie actually seemed speechless for a moment. His eyes looked so troubled, and there even appeared to be tears forming in his eyes.

Just like the tears forming in Amy’s own eyes.

“…Amy, please listen - “

“OK, fine.”

“Wha – you will?” Laurie asked.

“Yeah, of course,” Amy replied. “I’ll listen while you answer three questions. Are you still in love with Jo?”

“Amy – “

“That’s a yes. Question two: were you honest with me about that?” Amy asked, her angry eyes burning into Laurie’s.

“…No,” Laurie replied.

“Mm-hmm. And do you seriously think I could ever forgive you for leading me on…?” Amy asked, her last words heavy with disdain for the young man in front of her.

“Amy, please just listen to me - !”

“No! That is enough listening!” Amy shouted. “I am leaving, don’t you dare follow me! I never want to see you again!”

Amy swung open the front door and let it slam behind her.

She walked all the way back to Aunt March’s. Her heart beating wildly as it was breaking. Her butterfly pendant necklace (the one Marmee had gifted to her just before she’d left for Europe) clinked against her collarbone as she walked.

Once she’d arrived back at Aunt March’s, she’d hurried through the house and up the stairs - not bothering to say good morning to her aunt. She kept up her fast, thunderous pace until she reached her bedroom and slammed the door behind her.

Then she sunk down to the floor and cried. She didn’t leave her room for the entire day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please leave a comment and tell me what you think! I've been working very hard on this story all year, it is my child.


	2. Breaking Up is Never Easy, I Know

The next morning found Amy in her private painting studio. Amy had chosen the small upstairs room to be her studio immediately after she and Aunt March had moved into the large house. The view from the window was just so beautiful, Amy knew she had to use it for painting.

She had always felt so much inspiration while sitting in that room.

But that morning, as she sat on the floor, what she felt was sad. She felt stupid and humiliated. She felt heartbroken. She could paint about those feelings, but she didn’t want to. She had enough inspiration, but what she lacked was motivation.

She was wearing a tank top, jeans, and a brown fringed vest. Marmee called it her “scruffy outfit”, because it’s what she liked to paint in, when she didn’t mind getting a little messy.

She was wearing her painting outfit, in her painting room, holding a paintbrush, feeling so many feelings that she could definitely paint about, but she just…didn’t want to.

She’d lost her passion. Because of one guy. How stupid was that?

There was a light knock on the door and Amy groaned.

“I’m not hungry, Aunt March,” she called out. “Please, I just want to be left alone.”

Despite her words, the door opened anyway. Amy huffed with annoyance, thinking old Aunt March hadn’t heard her, and turned toward the door to repeat her request.

But instead of Aunt March, Amy was surprised to see her mother.

“Marmee!” Amy cried, rushing over to hug her.

Oh, how she had missed her.

“Well, perhaps I should leave if you want to be left alone!” Marmee chided, but her warm smile gave her away.

“Oh no, please don’t! Please don’t ever leave!” Amy exclaimed, hugging her mother again.

“Does that mean I can stay too?” asked a voice from beside Marmee.

Amy turned and squealed with glee when she saw her sister, Beth.

“Oh my God, Beth!” she cried, hugging her sister tightly. “How are you? You look so good!”

It was true. Beth’s fair skin had a rosy hue in it once more. And she looked beautiful in her white bohemian sundress.

“Well, that’s because my hair’s finally starting to grow back, which is nice,” Beth joked, touching her short, slightly spiky, red hair.

“Oh, you look amazing! The short hair suits you!” Amy insisted. ”But what are you two even doing here? Is Daddy here too? And the rest of the family?”

“No, it’s just the two of us,” Marmee replied. “Meg and John couldn’t get away from work, and Daddy insisted that staying home would give him some nice alone time. He sends his love, though.”

“And Jo is still in New York, writing up a storm,” Beth added.

Amy’s smile faltered slightly at the mention of Jo.

“Right, of course,” she said. “Of course, that definitely sounds like Jo. Well, I’m glad she’s doing well.”

Amy then smiled and clasped Beth’s hands. “And I’m glad you’re doing so well!”

Beth smiled.

“Marmee said this trip could double as both a surprise for you and a “remission present” for me,” she said.

Amy looked from her mother to her older sister. “So, the cancer’s all gone then?”

“Well, Beth’s been clear of symptoms for the past six months, so the doctors are very optimistic,” Marmee answered, gazing lovingly at her older daughter.

Amy squealed with happiness and hugged Beth.

“Well, I see you’re in a good mood!” Beth exclaimed. “When we phoned from the airport this morning, Aunt March said you’d seemed to be in a terrible mood! She said she hadn’t even seen you since yesterday morning.”

“Oh, that. That was…that’s nothing,” Amy lied.

“Aunt March seemed to think it was something,” said Marmee. “Or _is_ something.”

“Aunt March is old,” Amy replied.

“I heard that!” came an older, yet sharp, voice from downstairs.

Marmee smirked. “Aunt March is also sharp as a tack, so watch what you say with the doors open.”

“I heard that too…!”

“No, really I’m fine,” Amy insisted. “In fact, how ‘bout we go out for breakfast? Or brunch? Or lunch? I’m not even sure what time it is, what time is it?”

“It’s 9:30 in the morning,” Beth replied. “But honestly? We were traveling all day yesterday. Do you mind if we just take today to rest for a while, and maybe go out for dinner later? I’m exhausted.”

“Oh no, of course! Of course, you must be so exhausted! What was I thinking?” Amy exclaimed, giving a small laugh.

Marmee and Beth both regarded her with curiosity.

“I’ve got an empty bedroom right next to mine, Beth. You can take that one. Marmee, there’s a room just down the hall from Aunt March’s that has its own bathroom. All the bedrooms have amazing views from the windows. You get a great amount of light coming in, it’s truly amazing,” Amy babbled.

Beth opened her mouth to say something, but Amy beat her to it.

“Where are your bags? Did you leave them by the front door? Oh gosh, I hope you didn’t have to lug them too far. You didn’t walk all the way from the dock, did you? Or you probably got a taxi. Or a cart. You know they even let you rent donkeys out here to carry your luggage if there’s no room in your cart? Aunt March and I had to use one for some of her luggage when we first got here. I felt so guilty about it, but the man driving the cart insisted that the donkeys could handle the weight, and are actually very strong, like ants or something – “

Amy didn’t seem to notice that while she’d been babbling on, she had descended down the stairs, grabbed Beth’s bags and gone right back upstairs with them.

But Beth and Marmee had both noticed. Following her while she moved so quickly around the house, but they didn’t say a word.

Finally, after Amy had put Beth’s bags into her room and gone downstairs to collect Marmee’s, Beth turned to her mother.

“…Marmee, something’s wrong,” said Beth.

\------

After Amy had taken Marmee’s luggage into her room, she stopped at Beth’s room to see how she was getting on.

“How do you like it?” Amy asked, about the room.

“Oh, it’s beautiful, Amy,” Beth replied, as she put some clothes away inside the wooden dresser. ”The view is amazing, you definitely weren’t lying about that.”

“Yeah, well – hey, you never answered me. Did you guys use a cart and donkey to get up here? Was it Gus? Gus is such a sweet donkey,” said Amy.

Beth chuckled. “Amy, we never answered you because you never gave us the opportunity. You were talking and moving at the speed of light, it was hard to catch you.”

“Oh, uh…sorry,” offered Amy, as she sat down n the foot of the bed next to Beth. “I was just so excited to see you two.”

“Well, that’s good, happy surprises are supposed to make people happy,” Beth replied. “Have you been happy lately, Amy?”

Amy looked up from picking at a thread on Beth’s comforter. “Of course I have. I’ve been traveling around the world, which is something I’ve always wanted to do. I’ve been painting _so_ much – “

“ – And you’ve seen Laurie right?” Beth asked. “His grandfather told us he would be here, on this particular island, around the same time as you and Aunt March.”

“Uh…um, yes, I’ve – I’ve seen him around,” Amy muttered, her attention going back to the thread on Beth’s comforter.

“Amy.”

Amy looked up into Beth’s eyes.

“Amy, you can tell me anything, you know,” said Beth, softness in her voice. “I’m your sister.”

“So is Jo,” Amy replied before she could stop herself.

Beth was puzzled.

“Oh…was this something you wanted to talk to Jo about?” she asked.

“No! God no!” Amy retorted. “Jo’s the last person I need right now…well, second-last. Maybe.”

Amy fell back onto the comforter and Beth sat down next to her.

“Amy,” Beth prodded. “Please tell me what’s going on.”

Amy was so tired from crying. She didn’t want to cry anymore and she knew that if she told Beth what had been going on, she would start up again. But Beth had always been such a good confidante to Amy when they were growing up. She was such a good listener. Amy supposed she had to be since the other three sisters liked to talk so much. Whenever Amy confided in Beth, Beth always listened with patience, offering a rational opinion, and didn’t offer criticisms like Jo or Meg tended to. It was one of the reasons Amy had always considered her the best of the March sisters.

Amy crawled up to the pillows at the head of the bed and laid on her side, facing Beth, but still not looking at her, and she told her everything.

She knew Beth was tired from traveling, so she did feel bad about laying all of this on her, but when Amy or one of the other March sisters was upset, Beth was always there to listen. It was just who she was. She was Beth. Just like Amy was Amy, and Meg was Meg, and Jo was Jo. They were who they were. They could try to be different people but it would never work (unless it was just for the duration of a small Christmas play they put on every year). When it came down to it, they were all proud and unapologetic about who they were.

She couldn’t change herself. She didn’t want to.

But now she knew that Laurie probably would if he could. He’d want her to change into Jo.

…So there could be at least one version of Jo that loved him.

Even after she’d given him so much (including something she could never get back, and when she told Beth about that she did start to cry again), he still wanted her to be someone else.

But Amy wouldn’t do it. She wouldn’t be Jo just for his benefit.

She had always been Amy March. It was who she was, and who she would always be. And Amy March was strong, and capable, and so she would be just fine.

She would move on and everything would be fine.

\--------

Amy and Beth both slept in Beth’s room that first night. Beth was an absolute sweetheart, so she never said anything, but Amy knew she heard her crying during the night because she would feel her older sister’s arms wrap around her. Not too tightly, but in a reassuring way, like she wasn’t going to let her go.

The next morning, Sofia prepared a lovely breakfast for them. Marmee, Beth, and Amy and all sat down and practically gorged themselves on the amazing meal.

Well, Amy certainly tried to. She ate some toast and jam, but she felt a little queasy that morning. Maybe Sofia had used some new ingredients her stomach wasn't quite used to, yet. 

Aunt March had a small bowl of fruit and Beth and Amy could feel her disapproving stare as they ate; Beth ate like she was starving and Amy munched her toast loudly and licked the jam off of her fingers.

“Oh honestly,” she chided. “Amy, you’ve been doing so well with your manners these past few months! Then we come here to Greece and it’s like they all go out the window for some reason!”

“Well, maybe Amy’s just more comfortable here,” Marmee offered. “You even look like you’ve gotten some sun, Amy. Have you been enjoying yourself here in Greece?”

“Oh, well – “

“Well, she’s certainly been going out quite a bit since we got here,” said Aunt March, interrupting Amy’s response.

“I’ve been going out everywhere we’ve gone Aunt March,” Amy reminded her. “You and I have gone out together many, many times throughout this whole trip! Remember Paris? We both loved Paris.”

“Yes, I’ve been wondering if we should go back there, actually,” Aunt March mused. “The people there are much more proper. Everyone here seems a bit too… free-spirited, for my liking.”

From behind Aunt March, in the kitchen, Amy saw Sofia roll her eyes.

“Well, I’ve enjoyed France and Greece,” said Amy, sweetly. “And Italy and Switzerland will be amazing, too. This whole trip has been extraordinary Aunt March, and I know it never would’ve been this enjoyable without you.”

“Well, of course not,” grumbled Aunt March. “If it weren’t for me, you’d be staying in those dingy youth hostels, and who knows how often they wash the bedding in those places?...But that gratitude is nice to hear, especially since you’ve been locked in your room for the past couple of days, and I’ve seen hide nor hair of you. It was something to do with the Laurence boy, wasn’t it? I told you he was no good…”

Amy said nothing as she stared down at her plate and picked at her food. Aunt March turned to Marmee and sighed.

“Ever since they ran into each other again, a little over two months ago, she and that boy have been spending so much time together. I told her it wasn’t good to get in too deep with him – “

“ – Aunt March,” Beth cut in. “Amy was going to show us around town today. Would you like to come?”

“Oh, not today, my girl, thank you,” said Aunt March. “I prefer to just stay around the house. I enjoy going out in the yard, and on the porch in my free time, but too much sun makes me a bit dizzy. Besides, I’m having more and more trouble keeping up with little Amy on our walks, anyway.”

“Hmm, our “Little Amy” isn’t so little anymore Aunt March,” said Marmee, smiling and winking at Amy. “She’s a young woman now.”

Amy wanted to tell her mother that growing up into a young woman hadn’t been as wonderful as she thought it would be, but at the breakfast table with Aunt March was not the time or place for that.

Instead, Amy looked over at Beth and smiled.

“Beth, wait until you see some of the shops they’ve got here, it’s all so amazing….”

\------

Amy chatted with Beth and Marmee as they walked around town, seeing the sights. The island didn’t offer much in the way of huge tourist attractions, but it was definitely filled with some quaint hidden gems. There were small restaurants with amazing signature chicken and lamb dishes, and shops with unique trinkets, accessories, and clothes (Beth had ended up buying a brightly coloured purse with beautiful beading, and the girls even convinced Marmee to buy a beautiful deep purple sundress).

When they decided to stop for lunch, Amy excitedly led them to her favourite pub/restaurant in town. Marmee shook her head but also chuckled when Amy slyly told her that the drinking age in Greece was 18.

“You two are not drinking right now, it’s barely noon,” Marmme scolded them.

“I didn’t say we should, I said we _could_ ,” Amy replied, playfully.

Beth smiled. Amy seemed to be having a good time and that was good, considering how upset she’d been the day before.

As they sat down at a table and chatted while looking at their lunch menus, a tall man with shaggy dark hair and a dark beard, wearing bell bottoms and a brightly coloured shirt walked over to them and smiled.

“Ah, Amy March! You are back again!” he exclaimed with a smile, looking down at Amy. “You haven’t been here for a few days, we were starting to get worried!”

Amy smiled up at him. “Marmee, Beth, this is Lazaros. He owns this fine establishment.”

“The finest establishment in all of Greece!” Lazaros added, ignoring the patron behind him at the bar who very clearly muttered, “ha!”

“Lazaros, this is my mother, and my sister, Beth,” Amy continued, introducing them.

“Ah, it is so nice to see the beautiful family of beautiful Amy!” said Lazaros, kissing Marmee’s hand, then Beth’s, making them both blush. “I always wondered where she got her tremendous beauty from, and now I know and am happier for it, because it is like instead of seeing one beautiful flower, I get a nice bouquet to enjoy!”

“Well, Amy and I actually have two other sisters, also,” Beth told him.

“Ah, the bouquet is even bigger…!” Lazaros exclaimed. “Meaning the world is even more beautiful than I imagined, oh that gives me such hope for the future…”

Amy rolled her eyes as Beth giggled.

“I take it you’ve been in here quite a bit?” Marmee asked Amy, with a smile.

“Oh, yes! Beautiful Amy comes in here so much of the time, which is why we were so disappointed when we did not see her these past two days,” Lazaros explained, then he pointed to some paintings hung up on the wall. “She’s even given me some beautiful paintings as a nice gift, to hang up in my restaurant! You see them?”

“Oh yes, they’re beautiful,” Marmee agreed, as they looked over at the paintings on the wall.

“…Is that painting a portrait of you?” Beth asked Lazaros, pointing at one particular painting.

“Oh, well I knew if anyone could immortalize my image to be shown in my restaurant for all the world to see – “

“ – Or at least the few people who come in here,” the bartender piped up.

“ – It would be Miss Amy March who could do it,” Lazaros finished, ignoring the interruption. “…Amy, is the tall skinny young man not joining you today?”

“Um no, no Laurie isn’t joining us today,” Amy replied, as she avoided Beth and Marmee’s eyes. “He’s – well, I don’t know where he is, but I’m visiting with my family today.”

“Ah, well, then I will leave you lovely ladies to look at our fine menu, and I will be back to personally take your order!” said Lazaros. “Also, I insist that you try our baklava. It is my mama’s recipe – so good!”

The March women agreed to try it and as Lazaros left the table and they were looking at their menus, Amy could feel Marmee’s eyes on her.

“Perhaps we could call on Laurie later,” said Marmee. “It would be nice to visit with him.”

“Laurie’s busy, Marmee,” Amy lied, as another male server came over to fill their water glasses. “He probably won’t have time to visit.”

“ – Oh, Laurie! Laurie is the tall, skinny, dark-haired one you come in here with yes?” the server suddenly asked Amy.

“Yes,” Beth replied for Amy.

“Yes, he asked my papa for a ride to the mainland in his boat a couple of days ago,” said the young man. “Laurie apparently did not want to wait for the ferry. I guess he was in some kind of rush.”

“….Oh,” despite herself, Amy felt her stomach drop. But maybe that feeling was just queasiness left over from breakfast.

“So he’s…he’s gone then?” she asked.

“He’ll probably be back soon,” Beth told her. “I’m sure he just had to take a little trip somewhere, for his grandfather.”

“Well, he did tell my father that he had to talk to someone very important, and that it could only be done face to face,” said the young server.

“Oh, well then maybe it was one of Mr. Laurence’s clients,” Marmee suggested. “I’m sure he’ll be back soon.”

Amy had a feeling she was wrong. She had a feeling that it wasn’t a client at all.

“Niko, what you doing?” Lazaros scolded, coming up behind him. “Stop gossiping and get back to work! Other tables thirsty too, huh?”

So Niko the server hurried off and Lazaros smiled at the ladies once again, and with a dramatic flourish, he pulled out a notepad and a pen from his shirt pocket.

“Now, what can I get you lovely ladies to eat…?” He asked, with a bright smile.

Amy put on her best forced smile (which she’d perfected while traveling around with Aunt March) and gave him her order.

\--------

After they had finished eating, paid for their meal, and promised to visit again before Beth and Marmee left, Amy led her mother and sister out the door and back into the small street. Suddenly, she bumped into something solid…and tall.

“Oh, I’m so sorry - !” Amy apologized.

“No, it was my fault,” said the young man. “I never look where I…”

And he stopped talking because he was looking into her eyes. And he smiled. And she smiled.

“Fred!” she exclaimed. “Fred Vaughn, is it really you…?!”

Fred laughed gave her a hug. Then he noticed her mother and sister standing behind her.

“Oh, excuse me!” Fred exclaimed, extending a hand to Marmee. “I’m Fred Vaughn.”

Marmee smiled. “I’m Margaret March,” she said, “Amy’s mother.”

“Yes, and Fred this is my sister Beth,” Amy gestured to Beth and Fred smiled and shook Beth’s hand as well.

“Oh, of course! Amy told me so much about you! As well as the rest of your family,” said Fred. “Forgive my intrusion. Amy and I met a little while ago when we were in Paris, and this really is just the greatest coincidence seeing her again.”

“Fred’s been sailing all over Europe!” Amy exclaimed excitedly to Beth and Marmee.

“Oh, are you sailing with any other people Fred, or are you alone?” Marmee asked.

“Oh, it’s just me,” Fred explained. “My dad let me take his boat. I actually wanted to go backpacking and stay in hostels, y’know, have the real college student experience of Europe, but of course my mother wouldn’t hear of it. She said she at least wanted to know for certain that I had a good place to sleep and stay during my trip.”

“All mothers just want their kids to be safe, that’s the truth,” said Marmee.

“Sailing sounds awfully exciting,” said Beth. “Is it fun?”

“Well, it is very nice to travel on the open ocean,” said Fred. “Though the sleeping quarters can feel a little cramped. But you get used to it. Actually, would you ladies like to go out sailing with me today? My boat’s just at the main dock, it’s not far.”

Amy’s eyes lit up but Marmee spoke before she could.

“Well, actually Beth and I should be getting back to Aunt March. We’ve been neglecting her a bit since we got here, and we really should spend some time with her.”

Amy’s face fell.

“…But Amy’s been spending loads of time with her for months!” Beth added. “She could probably go with you!”

Fred looked over at Amy. “Would you like to go?” he asked, with a hopeful smile.

Amy glanced over at Marmee. “Can I go Marmee? Please?” she asked, nearly pleading. “We’d only be gone a few hours. I’d be back before dinner, I swear.”

“Ah, well….”

“I’m very good at sailing, Mrs. March,” Fred insisted. “I’ve been sailing my whole life and I promise it’ll be very safe, and I will have Amy back in just a few hours, you have my word.”

Marmee stared at Fred, seeming to size him up. Then she looked over at Amy, and then over at Beth.

“Oh, alright,” she relented. “But you be back in time for dinner, Amy.”

“I will, thank you, thank you, thank you!” Amy exclaimed, kissing her mother on the cheek and giving Beth a hug.

Then she looked over at Fred and smiled, he smiled back as he offered his elbow.

“Shall we, my lady…?” he offered, jokingly.

At the mention of “my lady”, Amy’s smiled faltered a little bit, as the term brought an image of Laurie back into her mind.

But she quickly dismissed it and smiled back at Fred, looping her arm through his.

“Absolutely,” she said.

\------

…They arrived back from their boat trip just over two hours later.

Marmee and Beth were sitting in the living room (Aunt March had gone for an afternoon nap) when they looked out the window and saw Fred leading a very pale-looking Amy up the pathway to the house.

“…Amy!” Beth exclaimed worriedly as she ran out just ahead of Marmee to meet Fred and Amy. “Amy what happened? Are you OK?”

“I’m fine,” Amy replied, weakly. “I guess I just got a little…sea-sick or something.”

“When she threw up over the side of the boat, I knew it was time to cut our trip short,” Fred explained. He let go of his gentle grip on Amy’s elbow and she automatically shifted into Marmee’s arms.

“Well, let’s get you into bed and maybe you’ll feel better after some rest, hmm?” Marmee offered.

Amy simply nodded and let Marmee lead her away, to the house.

Marmee smiled back at Fred. “Thank you so much for taking care of her and getting her home Fred,” she said.

“Fred, I’m so sorry. Maybe we can have a do-over before you leave…?” Amy called over her shoulder.

“Well, actually, I’m leaving to go back to England tomorrow,” Fred replied. “But you have my address and my home number, so we can definitely still keep in touch!”

“OK, sounds good, bye…!” Amy called out, sounding weak and tired, and clearly wanting to go and lie down.

Marmee led her through the front door into the house and Beth turned back to Fred and smiled, gratefully.

“Seriously, thank you so much for looking after her, that was really great of you,” she said.

“Oh, its no trouble at all,” Fred replied, with a smile. “You know, it’s strange though…I took her out in my boat when we were in France and she never got nauseous or seasick.”

“Yeah, she doesn’t normally when we go canoeing or row-boating back home, either,” Beth agreed. “…But she hasn’t been eating very much over the past few days, so maybe that’s got something to do with it.”

“Oh, was she sick recently?” Fred asked.

Beth smiled at his concern. “No, she’s just been um…homesick, I guess,” she lied.

“Well, it’s a good thing you and your mom are here then, you’re bound to help her feel better,” said Fred, with a smile.

“Yeah, I hope so,” said Beth, and she really did.

“Well, I better get in there and check on Amy,” she said. “But thanks again, Fred, and have a safe trip home.”

“Thanks Beth, it was nice meeting you,” said Fred. “Please tell Amy I hope she feels better.”

“I will.”

Fred gave her one last smile before turning to head back down the path and head back to his boat.

Beth felt a bit sad on Amy’s behalf. Fred was a nice guy, and now he was leaving and who knew when Amy would see him again?

And since when did Amy get seasick…?

\------

When Beth got to Amy’s room, Amy was already in bed and Marmee had drawn the curtains closed for her, shutting out the bright sun as much as possible. Sofia had brought a bucket in and placed it next to Amy’s bed, in case she needed to throw up again. Marmee was leaning over Amy and touching her forehead and cheeks.

“Mm, you don’t feel like you have a fever…” she said.

“Maybe it was just seasickness or something,” Amy muttered.

“But Amy, you never get seasick,” Beth reminded her, still standing in the doorway.

Amy sighed. “I don’t know Beth, maybe it was a bunch of things,” she grumbled. “It’s really warm out today, maybe the combination of the heat and being out on the water – “

“ – Well, it is quite warm here,” Marmee agreed. “…Especially for the second week of May. But this is a tropical island, so I guess maybe you’re just not used to the heat out here.”

Marmee didn’t notice that Amy had seemed to go very still while she was talking, But Beth had. Even in the darkness of the room, Beth could still make out the look of slight panic on Amy’s face.

“I’ll get you a glass of water, and maybe a damp facecloth might feel good on your forehead too, hmm?” said Marmee, getting up from the bed.

“Thanks, Marmee,” Amy mumbled.

Marmee smiled down at her youngest daughter and left the room, leaving Beth behind to watch over her.

Beth came to sit in Marmee’s place on the bed and gently touched Amy’s shoulder.

“Amy – “

“ – Is it really the middle of May?” Amy asked, sitting bolt upright in bed. “I must’ve lost track of the date over the past couple of days. Specifically, what’s the date? Do you know?”

“Um…it’s the fourteenth,” Beth told her.

“The fourteenth? Are you sure?” Amy asked, the panic evident in her voice now.

“Yes, Amy, it’s the fourteenth. Why? What’s going on?”

“Here we are,” said Marmee, as she re-entered the room holding a facecloth. “Amy! Lay back down! If you’re sick you shouldn’t be up right now!”

Amy sighed and laid back down. Marmee brought her the facecloth and laid it across her forehead.

“There, now just rest for a while, OK?” she said, and she looked over at Beth. “Beth, your sister needs to rest.”

“I just need to talk to Beth for one second, then she’ll go, OK?” Amy promised.

Marmee frowned slightly. “Alright, but you need to try to sleep for a while, Amy,” she said.

Amy nodded, holding the facecloth in place on her forehead. Marmee left and closed the bedroom door behind her, and Amy immediately sat up in bed and put the facecloth on her nightstand.

“…Amy, what’s going on?” Beth asked, extremely curious now.

“I need you to do something for me,” Amy told her, her tone very serious. “But you _cannot_ let Marmee or Aunt March know about it, do you understand?”

In the end, Amy agreed for Beth to get help from Sofia (who would also be sworn to secrecy).

…After all, Beth didn’t know where the pharmacy or drugstore was on the island. And she _definitely_ didn’t know the Greek word for “pregnancy test”.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *dramatic cliffhanger music*  
> OMG! What's Amy gonna do?!  
> What's Beth gonna do?!  
> Oh, things are getting interesting now, aren't they...?  
> You wanna comment about it now, don't you?  
> Go ahead. Do it.  
> DO IT!  
> Ha ha, I mean comment and let me know what you think! Love ya!


	3. Who The Hell Am I If I Don't Even Try

Four tests. Amy had taken four pregnancy tests and they had all been positive.

Amy had barely said a word since the first test showed positive, and after the next three she refused to say anything and just laid in her bed.

She wasn’t crying.

She wasn’t visibly panicking.

She was just…still.

Beth tried to ease her younger sister by reminding her that she wouldn’t be able to know for sure until she had a doctor’s appointment. Even though four positive pregnancy tests in a row definitely didn’t seem like a coincidence.

Amy still said nothing.

Beth slept in Amy’s room again that night. More for her own peace of mind than anything else. She knew that Amy had had a rather tumultuous few days since breaking things off with Laurie, and Beth just wanted to make sure she would be alright.

She wanted her sister to know she wasn’t alone.

Although, Amy was a young woman now, so she _was_ old enough to be on her own if she wanted to be. But Beth was still her big sister. Even when she was still fighting her battle with cancer, she had insisted Amy go to Europe. She had wanted Amy to experience life, and to live it joyously, not possibly experience the end of it if she stayed home with Beth.

But now that Beth was well again, she wanted to start acting like a big sister again. She’d spent so much time being taken care of and protected by others, she wanted to feel useful again. She wanted to be needed and take care of the people she loved, and who better to start with then her little sister?

“You’re not alone, Amy,” she told her as they laid in bed that night, and Beth wrapped an arm around her. “No matter what happens from here on out, you are not alone.”

Amy still said nothing as she laid in bed and gazed out at the moon, which was shining though the window. But Beth did feel a light squeeze on her forearm, signaling that she’d heard her.

Beth smiled and closed her eyes, falling asleep to the sounds of the ocean.

\-----------

Amy’s eyes cracked open the next morning to see the pink hue of the sunrise just starting to show outside of her window.

She instantly flashed back to how she’d woken up to a similar sunrise, on the morning after that first night with Laurie. And in a moment of delusion she turned over in bed, thinking she’d see him there next to her.

But instead she saw her sister, Beth. She almost laughed at the humor in it; believing she was still in the arms of the man she loved, but in reality, she was laying next to her older (snoring) sister…whom she also loved, but obviously in a very different way.

Suddenly, Amy felt something rising in her throat. Quickly and quietly, she tip-toed to the bathroom and vomited into the toilet, holding her own hair back. After she was done, she brushed her teeth, and quietly, so as not to wake Beth, retrieved some clothes from her room and a towel from the linen closet, and went to have a shower.

After her shower, Amy dressed in a tank top and jean overalls, with her hair back in a ponytail and no makeup on. It wasn’t meant as another “scruffy outfit”, because she wasn’t going to paint that morning, but they did feel very comfortable.

They were actually borrowed from Jo, before Amy had even left on her trip with Aunt March. As different as the sisters’ styles were, she had to admit…she did occasionally have some things that even Amy found likable.

Amy had actually often wondered if that’s why she had first liked Laurie when she was young…because he had been stuck to Jo’s side right from the get-go, and he was another one of her older sister’s “possessions” that Amy was envious of, simply because he was Jo’s.

But as she got to know Laurie, she knew that wasn’t true. She liked him because of his charismatic nature, his amazing smile, and his ability to be a friend to all of them, not just Jo.

It was those things and so many others that made Amy fall in love with him. The fact that he was Jo’s best friend, and had also been in love with her, was just an unfortunate detail.

…Until he had come to Greece, and they shared a bed, and they fell in love…and his own written words reminded Amy that she would never be the number-one woman in his life.

But now…now there were other things to think about. Now, she wasn’t just living to keep one man’s attention. Laurie was gone. Fred was also gone. She had no parties to go to and none of Aunt March’s friends to meet. Amy felt like she could actually breathe a bit more comfortably knowing that she had no one to impress.

As Amy leaned against her favourite tree in the front yard and looked out at the water, she gently laid a hand on her stomach…and she smiled.

Because that was the life she wanted.

\-------------

“…What in God’s name do you mean, _you’re staying_?!”

Sofia, who had been halfway through the kitchen door with a pail of fresh vegetables, quickly backed out again at the sound of Aunt March’s screeching.

“I mean, I’m staying,” Amy told her. “Staying, as in, not leaving.”

“Amy March, don’t take that tone with your aunt,” Marmee warned. “Amy, this was only supposed to be a trip – “

“ – I realize that, but my plans have changed,” Amy responded. “I’m an adult, Marmee. I’m over 18 and I can live on my own, and I choose to live here.”

“With what money?” Aunt March asked, in a disbelieving tone. “I’m certainly not going to finance you living here for the rest of your life!”

“I have money of my own, and I’ll make some more while I live here,” Amy told her.

“How?” Aunt March asked.

“I’ll teach painting classes,” Amy answered. “And I’ll sell some of my own paintings, and I already asked Lazaros, and he told me that I could work as a waitress in his restaurant.”

“A WAITRESS?!” Aunt March exclaimed. “You’re not a waitress, you’re a March! March women don’t work as waitresses!”

“Well, this one is going to,” said Amy.

“Well, you certainly won’t be able to afford to stay in this house on a waitress’s salary!” Aunt March fired back.

“I don’t want to stay in this house,” Amy insisted. “I’ll find my own place to live.”

“Amy – “

“ – Marmee, I know you’re worried, but you don’t have to be,” said Amy, taking her mother’s hands in hers. “This is what I want. I love it here, and I want to build a life here.”

“But the rest of the family…!” Marmee exclaimed. “We’ll never see you again, Amy!”

“Of course you will!” said Amy. “I’m not doing this to stay away from you! I’ll come visit when I can! And maybe you guys can come and visit me too! And I’ll write letters! Marmee, I’ll write SO many letters…!”

“But you’ll be all alone here!” Marmee argued.

“No, she won’t,” said Beth, finally speaking up as she went to stand beside Amy, who stared at her in surprise.

“…Because I’m staying with her.”

\----------------

“I cannot believe you just did that.”

“Well, technically, you started it. It just felt like a good moment for me to add some drama,” Beth joked.

Amy stopped pacing and stared at her sister.

After Amy had made her declaration, and Beth had made _her_ declaration, Marmee had told the girls that she and Aunt March needed some time to talk. So, Amy and Beth had headed up to Amy’s room and shut the door behind them so they could have their own private talk.

“I don’t need you to stay here and take care of me!” Amy hissed.

“Well, Marmee’s right, you can’t be alone!” Beth argued. “Especially _right now_ – !“

“SHHHH…!” Amy viciously shushed her sister, who stuck her tongue out at her.

Just then there was a knock on the bedroom door.

“Miss Amy, I have some of your clothes clean and dry from washing line,” said Sofia, opening the door just a crack.

“Oh, um – “

“ – That’s great, Sofia, thank you. Please come on in,” said Beth.

Amy glared at her sister as Sofia went to open the wardrobe and hang up the clean clothes.

Just as the older woman was turning to head out of the bedroom, she stopped in front of Amy.

“And if you’ll be wanting a house to stay in that’s affordable for you, I can get you put up in that farmhouse you like so much,” Sofia told her.“…The one Mr. Laurie was staying in.”

“Oh, you know the landlord?” Amy asked.

“ ‘Course, it’s my brother!” Sofia exclaimed, with a smile.

“Your brother?!” Amy and Beth chimed at the same time.

“Nai!” Sofia replied. “My family own that house for many, many years. My brother used to live in it, but as he become old man he don’t like going up and down the stairs so much. We took to renting it out to make a bit more money for our family. Lazaros, my son, he does some repair work around the house when it’s needed.”

“Lazaros is your son?!” Amy and Beth both asked.

Sofia looked from one sister to the other for a moment.

“This talking at same time something you two do often…?” she asked. “Anyway, if you are interested, I can get my brother to give you very good renting price.”

“Oh my God!” Amy exclaimed. “Sofia, that would be amazing! I…I…have to puke, excuse me.”

Amy turned and ran from the bedroom.

She shut the door behind her and Sofia looked over at Beth with a knowing smile.

“Many bedrooms in that house,” said the older woman “…any one of them would make great nursery.”

Beth smiled and put a finger to her lips, reminding her it was still their secret. Sofia winked, put a finger to her own lips, and walked back downstairs.

\--------------

Marmee and Aunt March spent the rest of the week trying to talk the girls out of their “crazy plan”.

Marmee somehow got their father on the phone (Aunt March was willing to pay long-distance charges on that single occasion) and he also blew up and tried to talk them both out of it.

Amy also tried a few times to talk Beth out of staying with her, insisting she didn’t need a babysitter.

…Well, she would _eventually_ , but not for her herself and she could figure those things out on her own, anyway.

But Beth wouldn’t budge on her decision, just as Amy wouldn’t on hers.

Marmee eventually tried to compromise, suggesting trips out to Greece every summer? Or some kind of college transfer student program, maybe for a year?

Still the two younger March sisters would not be swayed. They were staying.

“Oh, don’t waste anymore of your energy dear,” Aunt March told Marmee over tea one afternoon. “…You know they’ll probably change their minds after a few weeks of living here, anyway.”

“Amy’s already been here for months, and she’s loved it,” Marmee reminded the older woman.

“Yes, because she hasn’t had to pay for anything!” Aunt March retorted. “As soon as you make it clear to these girls that they’re TRULY on their own when it comes to finances and responsibilities, they’ll come crawling back!”

Upstairs in Amy’s room, she and Beth were having yet another private discussion of their own.

“…Amy, you should tell Marmee about the pregnancy before she leaves,” Beth told her, as she laid on her back across the foot of the bed.

Amy, who was sitting cross-legged in the centre of the bed, rolled her eyes. “If I do that, she and Aunt March will DRAG me back to Massachussetts, and this could ruin their relationship with Laurie and his grandfather! And – hell, Dad will probably try to SUE them or something…!” she huffed and flopped down next to Beth.

“I thought you didn’t care about Laurie anymore, why the concern for his well-being?” Beth asked, with a tiny smirk.

“I…well, I mean his grandfather doesn’t deserve any pain or humiliation just because Laurie’s a…turd,” Amy muttered.

Beth burst out laughing.

“Shut up!” Amy whined, laughing, despite herself.

“That was the worst attempt at an insult I have ever heard!” Beth exclaimed.

“Jo used to say it all the time!”

“Yeah, when she was _ten_ , Amy!”

“Well, it just came out! Shut up!” Amy snapped, still laughing in embarrassment.

Beth finally stopped laughing but she looked over at Amy with a small smile on her face.

“It was such a bad insult, I’d dare to say it was insincere,” she remarked.

Amy frowned. “What do you mean?” she asked.

“I mean, I don’t think you’re as angry at Laurie as you think,” said Beth. “…It’s OK if you miss him, you know.”

“I don’t miss him!” Amy snapped, as she sat up again on the bed. “Why on Earth would I miss him?!”

“Because you love him,” answered Beth, as she rose to a sitting position.

“He broke my heart!” Amy argued. “He was still in love with Jo – my _sister_ – while he was with me!”

“Did he say that?”

“ _What_?”

“Did he actually say the words, ‘yes, Amy, I’m still I love with Jo’ when you confronted him?” Beth asked. “You weren’t clear on that when you told me what happened. Did he actually say that to you Amy?”

“He admitted that he hadn’t been honest with my about his feelings for her!” Amy argued. “He’d written about her in his _journal_ \- !”

“ – When?” Beth asked. “You said he wrote about being in love with two women at the same time, when was that entry dated? Do you remember?”

“Why does that matter?” Amy asked, tears starting to prick the corners of her eyes.

“Because time changes things, Amy!” said Beth. “It changes feelings! Feelings fade with time! You remember Marmee always saying that to us when we were younger, and we were upset over crushes we had?”

“This isn’t about a crush, Beth.”

“I know that, dummy, but if his last entry about Jo was written _weeks_ before you read it, who’s to say his feelings hadn’t changed in that time? And maybe that’s why he stopped writing about her?” Beth argued.

Amy sighed.

“Beth I’m tired, and I’m nauseous…” she said “…and I just don’t want to talk about Theodore Laurence anymore.”

“Fine, but we never resolved the first thing we were talking about,” said Beth.

“Which was what?”

“Are you going to tell Marmee that you’re pregnant?”

“Absolutely,” said Amy.

“Really?”

“Yeah, the day after the baby’s born, I’ll send her a letter.”

“Oh, for God’s sake, Amy…”

\--------------

Marmee and Aunt March insisted on taking a tour of the farmhouse, making sure that it was fit place for Amy and Beth to live in.

Sofia and Lazaros came along to lead the tour of the house and the rest of the property. Amy inwardly praised the mother and son for their patience with the two older March women, especially Aunt March, as the women constantly “tut-tut”-ed around the house.

“…My, this bannister seems a bit wobbly. When is the last time it was replaced?”

“Is the water pressure always this weak…?”

“Is there a grocery store close by? I don’t want the girls to have to go too far for supplies. They don’t even have a car…”

“You will be putting a phone line in the house, right? At least one, for safety’s sake, of course.”

But if Amy thought she was embarrassed before, it was nothing compared to –

“ – Oh, just look at this master bedroom!” Marmee exclaimed, as she stepped inside the large room, with Aunt March and Sofia following behind her.

“Look at all the light coming in from this window! I dare say it’s even better than the view from your room at Aunt March’s, Amy! Oh, and the room’s so nice and big…!” Marmee gushed, as she walked around the room. “Oh, no doubt, you girls will be fighting over who gets this – Amy, aren’t you coming in to see it?”

What Amy actually wanted to do at that moment was let the floor open up and swallow her whole as her mother and her great aunt walked around the same room where she and Laurie had spent some very _intimate_ nights…

Amy could feel her face getting hotter and Beth tried hard not to giggle at the rising blush in her sister’s cheeks.

“Um…I’ve…I’ve seen it,” Amy sputtered. “…Laurie, uh, took me on a tour of the house while he was staying here.”

“He showed you his bedroom? Well, that’s a tad improper,” Aunt March remarked, disapprovingly.

“Oh, I mean, I didn’t…we didn’t...I, I mean, we just – “

“ – Why don’t we take a look at the rest of the rooms on this floor?” Beth cut in, saving her sister from more embarrassment. “Sofia, how many other bedrooms are there?”

“Three more bedrooms on this floor, plus attic can make good bedroom also,” Sofia replied. “There is also guest house.”

“Oh my, that’s a lot of room…!” said Marmee, then she turned to Amy and Beth. “You girls can’t possibly need that much room with just the two of you, can you?”

Beth paused, suddenly unsure of what to say.

“…Well, you never know, Marmee,” said Amy, finally speaking up. “…I’ll have rooms for my painting studio, and to give painting lessons, and Beth can have a music room with her piano, and we could have…a library.”

\---------------

“…I cannot believe Marmee believed you about having a library,” Beth said through her teeth as she smiled and waved at her mother and great-aunt on the retreating ferry boat.

Aunt March had decided that if Amy was not going to continue traveling with her, then she might as well just go back to Massachusetts at the same time as Marmee.

Beth had to admit she felt a little bad leaving her mother to face that long plane ride home alone with their elderly aunt.

But she didn’t want Amy to be alone either. And since Amy still had not told Marmee that she was pregnant – well, at least that was one less thing Marmee would have to hear Aunt March’s opinion about on the plane ride home.

“Meaning what?” Amy asked, also through her teeth as she also smiled and waved at the women on the ferry.

“Well, you don’t read that much – “

“- Shut up! I read!”

“Yeah, but not enough to have your own library.”

“All I said was that we _could_ have a library, and we could! ….I just didn’t mention that we would also be having a nursery,” said Amy. “Anyway, they’re far enough away I think we can stop smiling and waving now.”

“Oh, thank God,” said Beth, putting her hand down and turning towards Amy as she moved her lips around.

“What are you doing?” Amy asked.

“Stretching my mouth, all that smiling really gave it a work-out. I don’t know how beauty queens do it,” said Beth.

Amy snorted back a laugh as Beth smiled and put her arm around the blonde.

“Come on,” said Beth. “Let’s go move into our new house.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I could not map out the Mamma Mia farmhouse if I tried, so I just kind of took what I saw in the second movie, and added a bit of my own floorplan. So nobody at me with your continuity errors.  
> Also, I know it sounds like "no", but "nai" means "Yes" in Greek (according to Google).
> 
> Happy New Year!!!!!!!


	4. It Sounds So Nice, Well-Planned and Wise

With help from Lazaros (and his “connections” on the island, which Amy and Beth didn't bother asking about), two phone lines were quickly set up in the house, one upstairs, and one downstairs. Lazaros also fixed the bannister on the staircase and double-checked the water pressure in all of the sinks and showers, including in the guesthouse.

Sofia admitted to Beth that she was actually happy their mother and great-aunt were so nit-picky, because she had actually been after Lazaros to get those repairs done for months.

“When Mr. Laurie rented the house, he had said these repairs didn’t matter so much to him,” Sofia told her. “He seemed sad and mopey at the time, so I no push too much.”

“Well, we really appreciate you getting all of this stuff done so quickly,” said Beth, as she carried in a shopping bag and set it down on the couch in the living room. “And thank you for getting Amy that doctor’s appointment.”

“No problem, one of the lady-doctors on the island is my daughter, Anastasia!” said Sofia. “As I told Amy, lady-clinic on island is very good. My daughter not slouch like my hippie-dippy son. Big hospital is on mainland if you want to go there for birth.”

“Oh, do some women on the island not go to the hospital to give birth?” Amy asked.

Sofia shrugged. “Most women here like to give birth at home. Sometimes they don’t have enough time to get to mainland, or it too stressful, depending on what happening during labour.”

Beth nodded, frowning.

She had honestly never considered that something may go wrong when Amy gave birth. Every time she had imagined it, everything had gone smoothly, and Amy and the baby were both healthy.

But she realized that she may have been thinking optimistically, but not realistically…because things didn’t always go so smoothly during births. She suddenly remembered Meg, when she gave birth to the twins, had actually needed a blood transfusion shortly afterwards. Her mother had been so worried. Everyone had.

How could she forget a thing like that? Had she really been convincing herself that nothing bad could happen to her or Amy, just because they lived in a new place, so far away from their old home…?

If anything, she should’ve been acting _more_ cautious.

…God, why hadn’t she gone with Amy to that appointment?

Beth had wanted to go with her, but Amy had argued that that would slow down the moving-in process, and she also insisted Beth explore the house on her own and get comfortable in it, because she hadn’t spent as much time in it as Amy had before.

Sofia saw the worried expression on Beth’s face and quickly grabbed her hand and patted it, in a comforting gesture.

“No need to worry, though, OK?” she said. “Lots of women on the island, myself included, very experienced with helping mamas have babies. Everything gonna be good and taken care of.”

She gave Beth a reassuring smile, and Beth tried her best to smile back.

Sofia really was like their fairy godmother. It felt so good to have her here, when Marmee, Jo and Meg couldn’t be.

At that point in time, Amy was actually at her first doctor’s appointment. Lazaros had driven her, and Sofia’s daughter would be her doctor, so Amy wouldn’t feel alone.

“…Sofia, you are an absolute God-send,” Beth told her, speaking sincerely. “Especially for Amy. How can we ever thank you?”

Sofia smiled. “Just keep house nice, do good work at restaurant…” she then reached up and patted Beth’s cheek “…and be happy, huh?”

Beth smiled. “I’m guessing the repairs will be part of the first month’s rent?”

“Oh, no! You and Miss Amy already give me first few months rent!” Sofia reminded her. “Besides, like I say, Lazaros was supposed to do repairs months ago, so since you finally able to get him doing those, we call that even.”

Just then, the front door opened, and Amy walked in.

Beth was at her side immediately, too excited to give her personal space.

“How did it go?” Beth asked.

Amy smiled. “Well, there’s definitely something in there,” she joked. “But it’ll be another two weeks before I can go public with it.”

“You mean another two weeks before you can tell Marmee and Dad,” Beth countered, with a smirk.

“Do you want to see the ultrasound photo or not?” Amy asked.

“Hell yes! Hand it over!” Beth exclaimed, grabbing for the photo paper Amy was holding.

Amy was right, there was definitely something in there. It was a tiny little blob, and Beth thought she could make out tiny arms and legs attached to that little blob, too.

Beth smiled as she looked up from the photo, and she saw Amy smiling with tears in her eyes.

“Beth, I heard the heartbeat,” she said, her voice was so low she was practically whispering.

“You did?”

Amy nodded, her happy tears finally starting to fall. “It was the greatest sound I’ve ever heard in my entire life…no offense to your piano-playing.”

“None taken,” Beth replied, and she hugged her.

When they finally pulled back from each other, Amy was still smiling.

“It’s due right before Christmas,” she said.

Beth whooped. She made an actual whooping noise. Then she raised her arms in the air and shouted, “BEST CHRISTMAS EVER!”

Amy laughed.

The girls spent the rest of the day shopping for more items for the house. Beth kept insisting that they stop so Amy could have a snack and sit for a while but Amy would just roll her eyes and argue that they hadn’t even started working yet, they couldn’t blow their whole budget on snacks for her.

…According to Sofia, her cravings would probably take up a big part of the budget in a few months, which is one more reason they needed to save money now.

“When did you become so wise?” Beth asked with a smirk, after Amy’s latest argument. They had stopped to sit on a bench next to a walking path and as Beth toed off her sandal to brush her toes over the grass, she admitted only to herself that this time it was her who needed the time to sit. Without a car, they had to do a lot of walking.

“I always have been, you three were just too busy noticing my faults,” Amy retorted, with a small smile.

“I was not!” Beth argued.

“Maybe it was just Jo then,” Amy chuckled. She gazed out over the lush green hill at the water in the distance. She loved being on an island. Everywhere you looked it was just blue, sparkling water…and it was perfect.

“…Have you thought about how you’re going to tell Jo?” Beth asked, snapping Amy out of her reverie.

Amy turned her head sharply to look over at her sister.

“Why do you say that like telling Jo, specifically, is a big deal?” Amy asked.

“Well, I just mean…” Beth stammered “…well, it is Laurie’s baby.”

“It’s _my_ baby,” Amy snapped. “And I’m not supposed to tell anyone for another few weeks anyway. So if that interferes with Jo and Laurie’s _wedding plans_ – “

“ - Amy!” Beth interrupted. “You don’t know that he’s with her now!”

“I don’t know that he’s not with her, and frankly, right now, I don’t care,” Amy replied. “I have enough on my plate to keep me busy. Speaking of which, shall we go?”

The two sisters shopped for a few more hours, then they took a cab (one of two on the island, if you don’t count hired donkeys) back to the farmhouse.

\---------

After getting the house set up and furnished in a way that had them satisfied, Amy and Beth quickly fell into a routine. They’d go to work at Lazaros’s restaurant, where they also (with his permission) put up fliers advertising private painting lessons, as well as private piano lessons. They also gave stacks of fliers to a few other businesses in the area, to give out to their customers.

If one of them wasn’t working, she would do chores around the house and cook dinner. If they were both working at the same time, they would eat dinner at the restaurant and then go home. Beth was able to buy an electric keyboard (which wasn’t a grand piano, but it was still good enough to give lessons on) which she set up in the guest house, where the sisters decided Beth’s music studio would be.

Amy mostly taught her painting lessons outside, in the front yard. If it ever rained, the lesson would move in the house to the spare room upstairs.

The girls had flipped a coin to see who got the master bedroom, and Amy had won. Beth had insisted she take it anyway, since it was big enough to put some of the baby's things in without feeling too cramped. The bedroom also had its own bathroom, which was especially good for Amy during her first trimester, because it meant she didn’t have far to run when she had to throw up in the mornings.

Beth had lots of her own space with her music studio in the guest house, so their share of space was pretty equal.

True to her word, after her doctor’s appointment at her twelve week-mark, Amy wrote her parents a letter explaining that she was pregnant and that the baby was Laurie’s…she was just having trouble sending it.

It was going on a month now, and Amy still had yet to send the letter. Beth kept reminding her, and Amy kept “forgetting”. Beth would offer to put the letter in the mail for her, but Amy insisted she’d do it herself when she got around to it. It was her letter, her responsibility.

…Her case of being a complete and total chicken.

One excuse Amy would use was that she was always too busy decorating the nursery. The baby would stay in a cradle (that Sofia had given as a baby gift) by her bed for the first few months, but after that she would have the baby sleep in a crib in its own room. Sofia had warned her that separating from a newborn, even just a couple doors down in the same house, was harder than it looked. But she wasn’t worried. A crying newborn would certainly keep her mind off any loneliness she felt, lying alone in bed at night.

She took her time painting the walls. She wanted to paint a mural on one wall, but had a hard time deciding which wall it should go on and what it should be an image of.

The bedroom window looked out onto the ocean, so painting a mural of an ocean landscape seemed a bit redundant to Amy. She considered painting the March family home in Massachusetts, but it was such a dark grey colour that it would stick out badly in the brightly-coloured nursery.

Once again, Amy found herself gazing out the window as she searched for inspiration.

Just then, she spotted the wildflower bush that grew just on the edge of their front lawn. She smiled faintly as she remembered another batch of flowers that had made her smile, not long ago.

Laurie had brought her flowers on their first date. Amy of course hadn’t told Aunt March about the date, so instead of Laurie picking her up at the house, Amy had met him in town.

They hadn’t wanted to go to Lazaros’s, because it felt too casual since they went there all the time. Instead, they’d chosen a restaurant that was just as quaint, but also a bit classier and more formal.

When Amy had walked up to him as he stood outside the restaurant waiting for her, Laurie had smiled almost timidly as he offered her the beautiful bouquet.

It was a bouquet of pink roses and purple wildflowers, with an accent of crimson geraniums. They were all flowers that she had practically rhapsodized about, a few days prior, while telling Laurie about sightseeing with Aunt March around the Greek islands.

_“You remembered…”_

_“I thought it could give you something else to paint other than landscapes, for a change.”_

_“And what’s wrong with landscapes?”_

_“So, you don’t want the flowers…?”_

_“No, I want the flowers. I love the flowers. I’m just saying, what’ve you got against landscapes…?”_

When Beth walked by the nursery later, she found Amy painting wildflowers and crimson geraniums on the wall.

“What if it’s a boy?” Beth asked.

Amy glanced over at her and shrugged.

“Boys like flowers, too,” she said. “…I just figured it was time to do something other than landscapes, for a change.”

\---------

  
Beth couldn’t take it anymore. It had been weeks since Amy had “planned” to send the letter to their parents, explaining her pregnancy. And that morning, Amy had given Beth yet another excuse of why she hadn’t sent it yet.

Meanwhile, all the letters Beth was sending to her parents and her sisters took care to omit Amy’s ‘development”, and it was getting harder to do.

She could only talk so much about the scenery…!

Looking over her latest unfinished letter to Meg, Beth suddenly got an idea.

 _‘Oh Meg…’_ she wrote. _‘I only wish you and Jo could be here to see how beautiful this place is, and much our lives have changed for the better. If I had one wish, it would be that the four of us could all be together again…’_

\---------

Another month passed with Amy and Beth continuing in their new routine. They worked, they taught their lessons, they fought about Amy coming clean about being pregnant, they fought about whose turn it was to clean the bathroom…regular sister things.

Amy’s belly was also getting larger, so, as Sofia predicted, a larger portion of their budget was spent attending to her cravings. They also finally bought a second-hand jeep (so they didn’t have to keep walking absolutely everywhere), which dipped a bit more into their savings. As well as buying things like a crib, a change table, and a rocking chair to furnish the nursery. Most of their furniture, both in the nursery, and in the house as a whole, was second-hand. But costs were still starting to add up. The price of independence, that Marmee and Aunt March had warned them about, was starting to become very real for the young women.

Beth started playing piano for the guests at the restaurant during lunch and dinner shifts, to make some extra tips. Amy also sold a few of her paintings, which brought in a bit more money.

They would get by, but they were exhausted.

Lazaros finally gave them both a weekend off (at Sofia’s insistence), so they planned to sleep for the next two days.

Unfortunately, along with the progression of Amy’s pregnancy came more symptoms for her to deal with – such as difficulty sleeping. So, since Beth was still sleeping that morning, and Amy was wide awake, the younger sister decided to make breakfast.

She wanted to make something special for Beth, since she’d been so good to her over the past few months. She knew she wasn’t easy to live with normally, but pregnant Amy March was certainly no picnic, either.

She went out to the orchard to pick peaches, to make Beth her peach pancakes. She hadn’t made them in a while, and she thought Beth might enjoy them. Beth had always liked peaches. That’s why she had been so excited when she learned about the peach trees on their property.

Amy was hauling a large basket of peaches back to the house when she saw them. She had just reached the edge of the front lawn and she could see Beth, in her pajamas, standing on the edge of the porch, talking to two women who were standing at the bottom of the steps.

Beth suddenly glanced up and saw Amy. Amy noted that she had a nervous look on her face.

“Amy…!” she called out. “Amy, look who’s here!”

Jo and Meg turned, smiled, and waved, calling out greetings.

Amy dropped her basket.

She was too stunned to move, but she definitely heard Meg and Jo laugh as they ran towards her…

…And then she heard the unmistakable voice of Meg exclaim, “…Amy Curtis March, are you PREGNANT…?!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *Dramatic Cliffhanger Music*  
> THE REST OF THE MARCH SISTERS ARE HERE!  
> Ooh, what do you think Amy's gonna say (or DO) to Jo...?  
> What do you think Amy's gonna say (or do) to BETH...?  
> So many questions...!!!!!  
> Stay tuned to find out the answers!  
> And thank you so much for your lovely comments and continued interest in this story. It really means a lot to me. :)


	5. Now It's Different, I Want You To Know

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ...You didn't honestly think I was gonna have a "Little Women" fic and not include a chapter or two with all four of them, did you? They're like the Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants of the 1860's!...Except in this story it's the 1970's!  
> Anyway, some questions you've been asking get answered in this chapter! Mainly, what happened to Laurie? And what happened between Jo and Laurie? Is Laurie still thinking about Amy? And will Amy throw peaches at Beth, too...?

“Nothing good ever happens when I go out to pick peaches…” Amy grumbled, as she and Beth found themselves rushing into Amy's bedroom to have yet another private talk.

“Now, Amy – “

“ – To think, I was going to do something nice for you.”

“Well, I appreciate that, Amy – “

“ – But now I’m going to _kill_ you!”

"What? Why do you automatically assume I had something to do with them being here?" Beth asked, looking a little insulted.

Amy arched an eyebrow.

"...OK, so I may have had something to do with them being here," Beth admitted.

Amy was so mad all she could do was let out an unintelligible cry of frustration, and she held her hands out like she wanted to choke somebody.

Beth knew that 'somebody' was probably her, but she had to at least try to plead her case.

“Would you please just let me explain first?” Beth pleaded.

“Explain what?” Amy snapped. “How you went behind my back and invited Jo and Meg here so they would find out that I’m pregnant, so you didn’t have to feel so bad about keeping ONE SINGLE SECRET-?”

“ – It’s not as if it’s a small secret to keep, Amy!” Beth argued. “Besides, we’ve been talking about how you were nervous about telling Marmee and Dad, but you never said anything about wanting to keep this from Meg and Jo! And I didn’t invite them! ...Technically! I wrote to Meg about how I missed the both of them, and I have, and how I wish they could see the island and see how we’re living now!”

“And that’s _not_ an invitation?!” Amy replied.

“No! Because I never once said, ‘please come to see us on the island’!” Beth continued. “…But after I wrote that letter, Meg wrote back suggesting that her and Jo could maybe come down sometime before summer’s over! But we didn’t set a date or anything! Them being here today is a surprise to me too!”

“…So, you basically manipulated Meg into coming up with the idea of coming down here to see us?” Amy asked.

The bedroom door suddenly swung open.

“You manipulated me, Beth?!” Meg exclaimed.

“Wow,” said Jo as, she stood behind Meg eating a peach. “…Greece has really changed you, Beth.”

“OK, so sue me! I was desperate!” Beth defended. “Amy refuses to talk about this, and it needs to be talked about!”

“OK, fine,” said Meg, in a much calmer tone now, and she gestured out the door. “…So, let’s all sit down and talk about it.”

All three of them looked at Amy.

“Amy…?” Meg prodded.

“Amy…” Beth repeated, in a tired voice.

“Amy – “

“ – I’m not talking about anything until I’ve had my breakfast, because I’m tired, and I’m pregnant, and I’m hungry, SO DAMNIT, I WANT PANCAKES!” Amy shouted. Then she turned and walked past Meg and Jo, out of the room, and went downstairs to the kitchen.

The three older sisters watched her go, then Meg and Jo turned to look at Beth.

“So…what’s she like as a roommate?” Jo asked.

Meg rolled her eyes and pushed Jo toward the stairs, to follow Amy down to the kitchen.

\-------

After Amy and Beth had rushed upstairs to argue, Meg and Jo had generously picked up the peaches Amy had dropped all over the lawn. The basket of peaches was in the kitchen when Amy got down there.

Amy washed the peaches without saying a word. She allowed her sisters to help her cut up the peaches, but she still refused to talk, despite all three of them (especially Beth) trying to make conversation with her.

Seeing that making conversation with their youngest sister was a lost cause at the moment, the three older March sisters talked amongst themselves.

Amy made the pancake batter and mixed in the peaches while Jo talked about life in New York.

Amy heated the stove and got out a frying pan while Meg talked about what Daisy and Demi were up to, and how excited they were to be starting kindergarten in a few weeks.

Amy poured the batter into the frying pan, enough for two pancakes, while Beth told Meg and Jo about Sofia and Lazaros, and how good they had been to Amy and Beth over the past few months.

Amy plated the first two pancakes and started working on two more when Meg finally decided to stop leaving her out of the conversation, even if that’s what Amy had wanted.

“Amy, why don’t you have the first two pancakes?” Meg offered. “Beth and I can make the rest. You’re hungry, sit down and eat.”

“Nonsense, you’re our guests,” said Amy, in a dry tone while still not taking her eyes off the stove. “You sit down, you’ve had a long trip, Beth can get you something to drink – like she should’ve already done, but Beth’s not the best at being considerate these days – “

“ – Amy!”

“ – And we’ll all eat together when the pancakes are done,” Amy finished.

“Amy,” Beth tried to urge her as gently as possible, knowing she was already in trouble with her younger sister (the phrase ‘ _on thin ice’_ did pop into her mind, but that was probably also a sore subject with Amy, given her past experience, so Beth definitely wouldn’t verbalize that). “Amy, please, let’s just sit down and we can all talk.”

“When. The pancakes. Are done,” Amy replied through gritted teeth. “As I’ve been telling you for months, Beth, I will talk about the major developments in my life when I am good and ready to talk about them. And I am not ready to talk about them until the pancakes are done and breakfast can be served.”

Beth stared at her for a moment, and Amy almost thought she could see tears in her eyes, but Beth finally nodded and went to sit at the table with Meg.

Meg, never one to stay angry for long (even if her own sister had manipulated her a little bit), put a consoling hand on Beth’s shoulder.

Jo, still standing at the counter, a few inches from Amy, rolled her eyes and decided to have her turn.

“Amy, don’t – “

Amy cut her off by turning on the small radio on the counter. Music filled the room, and Meg, Beth, and Jo sat at the table and continued to make small talk, but Amy herself didn’t make a sound…except for making the pancakes sizzle as she flipped them in the frying pan.

\----------

When Amy had finally finished cooking a stack of pancakes that was to her liking, she set the plate of pancakes in the middle of the table (Beth, Meg, and Jo had set the table while she’d been cooking).

Jo, of course, was the first to reach for one. Instead of reaching for their own food, Meg and Beth waited for Amy, who had not yet sat down.

Amy stayed standing and first retied her ponytail, since a few strands of hair had come out while she’d been cooking. She then tugged on the hem of her t-shirt, which had ridden up a bit (it was probably getting too small, like nearly everything else she owned that wasn’t maternity wear). She adjusted the waistband of her bohemian skirt, always switching between fitting it over her baby bump or under the baby bump when she wore it –

“…Amy, just _sit down_ for God’s sake!” said Meg, which sounded like she was pleading with her and giving her an order at the same time.

Amy huffed and sat down at the end of the table, across from Jo, while Meg and Beth sat beside each other on Amy’s left.

“…What do you guys think of the house, so far?” Amy asked.

Meg, Beth and Jo all shared looks between each other.

“It looks really nice, Amy,” said Meg. “Can we get a tour of it later?”

“Of course,” said Amy, taking some pancakes and putting them on her plate.

Since Amy had started eating, and talking, Meg and Beth both finally broke down and started taking pancakes for themselves (Jo was already digging into her second).

“These pancakes are really good, Amy,” said Jo, as she swallowed another mouthful.

“Thank you, Jo.”

“So,” Jo spoke casually as she put another forkful of pancake in her mouth “…who’s your baby’s father?”

And just like that, everyone went still, and everything was quiet (except for the radio, which was still on).

Meg looked uneasy, Beth had her eyes closed like she might be praying, and Jo and Amy stared at each other while Jo continued to eat and waited for Amy’s answer.

Amy rose from the table and started to walk away which made Beth and Meg loudly start to protest. But Amy just waved them off as she walked over and turned off the radio, then she returned to the table and sat down.

“…My baby’s father isn’t here on the island, anymore,” Amy replied, looking Jo right in the eye from across the table. “It was just one of those things that was too good to be true.”

“You don’t know that…” Beth muttered in a sing-song voice, not even looking at Amy as she stuffed a forkful of pancake in her mouth.

Amy glared at her. “Yes, I do,” she said.

Beth rolled her eyes as she continued to eat.

“Does he know about the baby?” Meg asked. “Do you think you’ll ever see him again?”

“He doesn’t know, and…maybe,” Amy answered, then glanced over at Jo “…actually, probably.”

“Why do you keep looking at me like that?” Jo asked. “I haven’t seen you in months and we’ve been here five minutes, and it looks like I’ve already pissed you off somehow.”

Meg looked over at Beth, hoping she could give her an answer as to what was going on. But Meg saw that Beth’s eyes were wide and fearful, and Beth herself felt a ball of ice form in the pit of her stomach.

“…You haven’t done anything, Jo,” Amy replied. “You’re you, same as you’ve always been. You don’t try to please people, you’re unashamed of every flaw, you’re honest and unafraid, and who couldn’t love someone like that…?!”

Amy suddenly got up and walked away from the table again, but this time she walked right out of the kitchen. All three sisters rushed off after her, Jo in the lead.

“…What the hell does that even mean?” Jo asked, catching up to Amy, who was already at the foot of the stairs leading up to the second floor. She grabbed Amy’s wrist to hold her back. “Amy, talk to me!”

“Why?” Amy asked, now in tears, as she pulled her arm out of Jo’s grasp. “Why does it matter? My opinion never mattered to you before! My needs have never mattered to you! I’ve always just been Little Amy, your annoying little sister!”

“Well, it seems like you’re still Little Amy, because you’re acting like a child!” Jo argued.

“Oh God, just get out!” Amy cried, as she started to go up the stairs. “Get out! Get out! Everybody just get out…!”

Beth rushed up the stairs to block Amy’s way. Thankfully, Amy’s stomach wasn’t so large that Beth could still get past her.

“…You are not running to hide in your room anymore,” Beth told her. “There will be no more secrets, Amy. No more hiding. It’s time to face things. You want to yell at Jo? She’s finally here in person, so now’s your chance.”

“Why do you need to yell at me? What the hell did I do?” Jo exclaimed in frustration.

“Amy, please, _please_ just tell us what’s going on,” Meg pleaded.

Amy looked up at Beth, and Beth gave her a pleading look of her own.

Amy turned on the stairs and wiped her eyes, then she looked down at Jo and Meg, who were waiting for an explanation.

“…The baby’s father…” she said, taking a deep breath “…is Laurie.”

Meg and Jo were suddenly like statues; they were frozen and neither of them seemed to be able to speak.

Amy then turned to Beth.

“There,” she said, “I said it. Can I go hide in my room now?”

“Absolutely not,” Beth replied. “Go sit down on the couch, you’ve got more talking to do.”

Amy sighed and walked down the stairs, with Beth following, and walked into the living room to sit down on the couch.

A moment later, Meg and Jo both slowly followed them into the room, both still appeared to be in shock. Meg sat down on the loveseat that was next to the couch, its back facing the front door, but Jo stayed standing, watching Amy silently.

“…I’m sorry if this ruins your wedding plans, Jo,” said Amy, dryly.

“My…what?” Jo asked, suddenly snapping out of her shock.

“…Or your plans of cohabitation and “living in sin”, as Dad calls it, or whatever plans you and Laurie have for the future,” Amy continued.

“Amy…” Jo’s voice was softer now as she went to sit next to Amy on the couch. “…What are you talking about?”

“He’s always been in love with you, Jo, it’s always been you,” Amy told her. “…That’s why I made him leave. I can stand being second to you in a lot of things Jo, but this was just too much. It was my own fault, for being so stupid and believing – “

“ – You fell in love with Laurie?” Meg asked.

But instead of answering her, Amy just kept on talking to Jo. “…I know he went to see you in New York right after he left here,” Amy sobbed. “I knew as soon as I made him choose that he’d choose you. He wouldn’t have to be so torn about loving two women at the same time, like he wrote in his journal – “

“You read his journal?!”

“SHUT UP, MEG!” the three other women shouted.

Jo looked back over at her youngest sister and gently took her hand.

“…Do you want to know the truth?” Jo asked, softly.

Amy sniffled. “No thanks, I’ve had enough emotional pain for one lifetime,” she said.

“No, what you have are assumptions,” Jo told her. “And you know what Dad says about assumptions…”

“ – They make an ass out of you and me,” Beth and Meg recited.

“Exactly,” said Jo, with a smile. “Amy, Laurie did come to see me in New York after he left Greece. But, do you know what he did when we saw each other again? He didn’t propose to me. He didn’t kiss me. He didn’t tell me he was in love with me…he apologized to me.”

“He apologized to YOU…?!” Amy cried, standing up from the couch.

“Sit your ass down! Yes! He apologized to me,” said Jo, as Amy sat back down, and she continued. “He apologized for making things so awkward between us, and for nearly ruining our friendship. Because…”

_"…Because I know now that I was feeling was more of a familial-type of love, more than anything else,” said Laurie, as he sat across from Jo, on the couch, in her tiny New York apartment. “You’re my best friend, you’ve always been my best friend, and because of that I’ve always loved you, but I was wrong in thinking that it was a romantic love. I suppose it was because I’d never really felt another type of love for someone like that before, and since you were my best friend, I guess a part of me decided that I should be in love with you, because I was closer with you than anyone else I’d ever known. But the thing is, that I know the difference now, because I found someone that I’m genuinely in love with. And it’s real, it’s very real. I’m in love with her, Jo, I’m so in love with her. It doesn’t make the love I have for you any less, but it’s definitely different, does that make any sense?”_

_“I suppose so,” said Jo, with a smile. “So, who is this amazing girl?”_

_“Uh…well, I’m honestly not sure if it even matters anymore, seeing as how I screwed it up,” Laurie told her._

_“Oh Teddy, you didn’t…!” Jo exclaimed. “How did you manage that?”_

_“Well, let’s just say that this recent epiphany I had didn’t actually happen until she kicked me out, believing I was in love with someone else,” Laurie admitted._

_“Why would she think that?” Jo asked._

_“She found my journal,” Laurie replied, looking sheepish._

_“Oh, Teddy…!” Jo groaned. “You know what? Give me her phone number, and I’ll talk to her.”_

_“No!” Laurie objected. “I mean, it wouldn’t work. She’s just as stubborn as you are. Besides, she might still be in Europe…or actually, by now she may not be,” his brow furrowed in confusion. “I honestly don’t know.”_

_“Well, as soon as you find out where she is, you have to go and see her again, and tell her you love her,” Jo told him._

_“Actually, there’s a couple other things I want to do first,” Laurie told her._

_“What? What could be more important than this?!” Jo asked._

_“I need to go and talk to my grandfather about some things,” he said._

“What things?” Amy asked.

“He didn’t say,” Jo told her. “But when I found out from Marmee that you and Beth were staying in Greece, I did call him in Massachusetts and tell him about it. I should’ve known something was up by how excited he sounded, and how he hung up after only a few minutes because he said he had a lot of work to do.”

“He was excited because he’d finally found Amy again…” Meg remarked, with a smile.

Jo smirked. “So, he’s never written you since he left?” she asked Amy. “He hasn’t tried to call you…nothing?”

Amy sighed. “I got one letter from him a couple months after he left,” she admitted. “I didn’t even bother to open it, I was still so angry. I tore it up and threw it in the fireplace.”

“Amy…!” Meg groaned.

“I’ve also been tearing up all of Jo’s letters because I was afraid to read about how great her life was with Laurie in New York,” Amy continued, glancing up at Jo “…sorry.”

Beth sighed. “Oh, Amy…”

“Will you stop ‘Amy’-ing me?” Amy demanded. “I know I was a tad overdramatic.”

“No, you weren’t,” said Jo, putting an arm around her. “Well, I mean, yes, you were, but – Laurie was right, you are stubborn, just like me.”

“And me,” Meg added.

“And me,” Beth grumbled.

“We’re the March sisters! Being stubborn and overdramatic is what we do!” Jo exclaimed.

Amy sighed, and laid her head on Jo’s shoulder.

“So, what do I do now?” Amy mumbled.

“Well, I think it’s time Laurie found out that he’s going to be a father,” Jo told her.

“At the very least, tell him you miss him, and you want to see him again,” Meg suggested. “Like Beth did with us.”

“You want me to manipulate him into coming here?!” Amy asked.

“It wasn’t manipulating - !” Beth started to argue.

“ – It wasn’t _not_ manipulating,” Jo pointed out.

“Just call him!” said Meg.

“She can’t call! We can’t afford long-distance phone calls to Massachusetts!” Beth argued.

“Well, then she can write him a letter!” Jo suggested.

Amy thought for a moment.

“…But what do I say?” she asked.

They all looked at Jo.

“...OK, I guess I can help,” said Jo, with a shrug.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes, this one's also a little short, but trust me, it makes sense in the grand scheme of things.  
> I can't give the whole story to you in just a couple chapters, that'd be no fun...


	6. The Love You Gave Me, Nothing Else Can Save Me

Jo and Amy spent the entire afternoon in Amy’s bedroom, thinking of the perfect way to word her letter to Laurie.

It reminded Amy of how Jo used to help her with her English homework all throughout high school. That was really the only thing they had ever done together, just the two of them. Growing up, they had always had the most rivalry among the sisters, with Beth and Meg always playing the peacekeepers.

Jo had always been jealous of Amy, thinking things were always made so easy for her because she was the youngest.

And Amy had always been jealous of Jo because she was so intelligent, and she had a fearless spirit that seemed to draw everyone to her – especially Laurie.

But the more time Jo and Amy spent in her room writing that letter, the more Amy heard Jo going off on tangents about a guy she met in New York – Friedrich.

Amy smiled because the way Jo talked about him – how he seemed arrogant, pretending to know what good writing was, when he wasn’t even a writer – she could swear she caught an undercurrent of affection in her older sister’s voice.

Well, well, Jo March had a crush…

\-------

“Beth, this is such a cool studio!” Meg exclaimed, as they walked around the guesthouse-turned-music studio.

Beth smiled.

“Yeah, I’ve always wanted a space like this, just for me and my piano,” Beth said, pressing down on a key on the electric keyboard “…maybe one day I’ll be able to afford a real piano. But for now, the keyboard works well. And my students don’t complain, either. Some of them have pianos at their own houses, so that gives me the chance to play on a real piano every once in a while.”

“You know, if you ask Marmee, I’m sure she and Dad could wire you some – “

“ – I said the keyboard works just fine!” Beth snapped.

Meg was instantly taken aback. Beth hardly ever got angry like that.

“I’m sorry,” said Beth. “I’m just tired, I guess. Amy and I have been working a lot, lately.”

“I’ll bet,” said Meg, with a forgiving smile. “It’s hard to be on your own, isn’t it?”

“We’re not on our own,” Beth insisted. “I’ve got Amy, and she’s got me.”

Hearing that, Meg’s smile grew even bigger.

“That is so sweet,” she said, putting a hand on Beth’s shoulder. “Well, as hard as it is for the two of you, I can’t imagine how hard it would be for Amy if she was here on her own. She’s lucky to have you with her.”

“Oh, trust me, she knows,” Beth said, with a smirk. “…It was why I was about to get my own peach pancakes before you and Jo showed up this morning, they were going to be Pancakes of Appreciation…then she got mad at me and they turned into Pancakes of Spite.”

“They still tasted really good though,” said Meg.

“Oh, absolutely,” Beth agreed.

Meg went to sit down on the couch that was situated against the wall, and Beth followed her.

“So,” said Meg “…what do you think is going to happen with Amy and Laurie?”

Beth shrugged. “She sends him a heartfelt and honest letter, that for once, doesn’t omit anything. He gets it, reads it, loves it, possibly cries over it, and flies here to Greece and they have that big, romantic, True Love’s Kiss, they have a baby, and it’s a happy ending.”

Meg burst out laughing.

“I don’t know exactly what Greece has done to you,” she said, giggling “…but you just said more in the past ten seconds then I’ve heard you say in like, three years.”

Beth rolled her eyes. “Oh, shut up.”

“It’s true! You’ve really come out of your shell!” Meg insisted. “Greece has changed you, but it doesn’t seem to have been all bad.”

Beth gave her a small smile and shrugged. “I like it here, Meg. I really do,” she said.

“So, what are you going to do if Laurie comes here and decides to stay?” Meg asked.

Beth frowned.

“What do you mean?” she asked.

“Well, I mean, if he moves in to be with Amy, and be a father to the baby, are you going to stay?” Meg asked.

Beth stared at her.

“I…I mean, I always assumed I would. Why wouldn’t I?” Beth asked.

“No, I’m not saying you shouldn’t!” Meg insisted, backtracking. “It’s not like you don’t have enough room here for four people – well, three and a half to begin with, I guess – I just wondered how far ahead you and Amy were planning things.”

“She only just decided to tell Laurie about the baby today, Meg!” Beth reminded her. “So no, the new possibilities this brings has not been a topic we’ve touched on yet!”

“Beth, I – “

But Beth was already standing up from the couch.

“ – I’m gonna go check on Amy and Jo,” she said “…to see if they need help with Laurie’s letter.”

She turned and walked out of the studio.

“Shut the door behind you when you leave, please!” she called back to Meg.

Meg sat there, stunned, wondering what the hell had just happened.

\-------

_Dear Laurie,_

_As I start to write this letter, I realize that I have so many thoughts and feelings in my head, I don’t really know where to begin._

_Jo and Meg have come to visit me here on Kalokairi. Beth is here too. Jo says she told you about that. She’s also told me that she told you that I’ve chosen to stay here. I’ve actually moved into the farmhouse you were staying in. You remember how much I loved it, right? So how could I resist?_

_This entre island is such an amazing place, Laurie, how could I bear to leave any of it behind and just return to my old life in Massachusetts, pretending like this paradise never existed?_

_I have been trying, over the past few months, to pretend like what you and I had never existed. Pretending like you don’t exist at all seemed like the easiest way to begin my new life. But it isn’t, Laurie. And it hasn’t been because there’s always been little voices in my head, and in my heart (that sounds surprisingly a lot like my sisters) reminding me that I did love you. That I do love you._

_Damnit, Laurie, I’ve always loved you. Ever since the first moment I met you._

_But another thing I’ve always felt is inferior to Jo. And having feelings for you always made that feel so much worse, because you two always had such a bond that I felt like I could never compete with. And when I read what you wrote about her in your journal, it was like my suspicions were confirmed. No matter how close you and I would ever get, you and Jo would always be closer._

_But Jo told me what happened when you came to see her in New York. She told me what you said, about how you realized you weren’t really in love with Jo, because you fell in love with someone else._

_She said you never mentioned the girl’s name, but I can only hope that it’s me. I mean, I know you spent time in other places in Europe, just like I did, and you would’ve had to make a couple of stops (due to flight layovers) before you made it home to Massachusetts and – sorry, I’m babbling. Jo’s helping me write this and we’re both babbling as I’m writing._

_Maybe she was right, I should’ve made some kind of outline or “story map” before I wrote this. She can be such a geek about writing, but her advice isn’t all bad, I suppose._

_(She just read what I wrote and smacked me)_

_Anyway, Laurie, I suppose the most important thing I want you to know is, that I miss you. And I want so badly to see you again. Please come back to Kalokairi to see me. There are so many things I want to tell you, and they’re things that need to be said in-person._

_Please come, Laurie._

_All my love,_

_Amy_

As Amy finished the letter, Jo, who’d been reading over her shoulder, smacked her in the arm again.

“OW!” Amy cried, rubbing her arm. “Stop smacking me! It’s not nice to smack pregnant women!”

“Well, it’s not like I was smacking the baby, I was smacking its idiotic mother!” Jo retorted.

Amy turned in her desk chair to give Jo and annoyed look as she stood over her.

“What?” she asked. “I wrote him the letter! I asked him to come! I am going to send it tomorrow - !”

“ – The ‘most important thing’ you want him to know is that _you miss him_?!” Jo recited. “REALLY, Amy…?”

“It’s not the type of thing that can just be announced in a letter!” Amy argued. “…Except in the case of the letter I’m going to send to Marmee…eventually.”

“What’s going on?” Beth asked, suddenly appearing at the bedroom doorway. “How’s the letter coming?”

“It’s terrible,” said Jo.

“It’s just fine, I’m going to send it tomorrow,” said Amy. She rose from her chair with a sigh and wrapped her arms around Beth, laying her head on her shoulder. It wasn't even noon but Amy already felt tired, and she needed comfort.

Beth immediately put her arms around her younger sister’s waist as Meg appeared at the top of the stairs, having followed Beth.

“She’s not writing about the baby in the letter,” Jo told Beth and Meg. “She wants to tell him in-person.”

“Well, at least this is a letter she’s going to send,” said Beth. “…Right, Amy?”

“It’s going in the mail tomorrow!” Amy grumbled, her head still on Beth’s shoulder. “I swear!”

“You see Jo? She’s mailing it out tomorrow,” said Beth. “So, it’ll take, what? A little over a week or so to get to him, and he’ll send a letter back, so that’s just two short weeks we have to wait. Then all this drama will be over.”

“Well, that depends on what his letter will say,” Amy muttered.

“…It also depends on if he’s like you and waits six months to write his letter back,” Jo quipped.

Meg smacked Jo in the arm and a look of horror came over Amy’s face.

“Oh my God, she’s right!” she gasped, then looked back at Beth. “What if he doesn’t write back right away? What if he makes me wait to punish me, or even if he doesn’t know what to say! He might take months - !”

“ – He will not take months to write back, he will write back as soon as he gets your letter,” Beth told her, with a tone of complete certainty, then she looked over at Jo. “…Jo was just kidding.”

“But it’s not funny if it turns out to be true!” Amy pointed out, starting to cry.

“It won’t be true, Amy,” Meg told her. “He’ll get the letter, he’ll write back, and he’ll be here.”

Meg then elbowed Jo and gave her a pointed look. Jo rolled her eyes at Meg and looked over at Amy.

“…He’ll come, Amy,” said Jo. “He’ll write back as soon as he gets that letter, and he’ll probably pay an obscene amount of money just to get a really fast plane to bring him here.”

“Exactly,” said Beth, with a nod, then she glanced back at Amy, who she was still holding in her arms, and was still clinging to her. “…And when he does write to you, his letter will say that he loves you. And that he’s coming to you as fast as he can, because you are all he’s been thinking about for months, and he can’t wait to see you and hold you in his arms again.”

“If he doesn’t, would you write a nice song to play at my funeral?” Amy asked.

All three of Amy’s older sisters sighed at that.

“Oh, Amy…” they all chimed, before all three enveloped her in a group hug.

While they were still all holding onto each other, Meg looked over Amy’s shoulder at Jo.

“Josephine March, you do not offer worst-case scenarios to a hormonal pregnant woman!” she hissed.

Jo rolled her eyes, but nodded.

“Yes, ma’am,” she muttered.

\-------

That night, Beth was having trouble getting to sleep. She tiptoed across the hall to Amy’s room, careful not to disturb Jo and Meg, who were sleeping in the guest room.

Beth gently opened Amy’s bedroom door and smiled when she saw that she actually seemed to be asleep. Sleep came so difficult to Amy these days, what with the baby moving inside her belly all the time, and having to get up constantly to go to the bathroom.

As Beth watched her sister sleep, she thought back on the past few months. She had had an amazing time living here in Greece. Going through all those months of chemo had really taken a lot out of her before she’d gone into remission. And even when she started remission, Beth didn’t seem to have the energy she’d had before having cancer, which frustrated her. She also missed Amy terribly while she was gone on her Europe trip. Spending time on this sunny Greek island with her younger sister had been exactly what she’d needed. It was like, as soon as she stepped off the ferry with Marmee, this island had immediately given her a renewed energy that she’d been waiting to gain back for months. The beauty of the island took her breath away, but in the best way possible.

And getting to spend so much time with Amy was amazing. As the two younger sisters, they’d always had a special bond between them, so as soon as Amy had told Beth she was pregnant, Beth immediately knew that she would be there for her sister, not just emotionally, but physically. The life they’d built for themselves over the past few months had been amazing, but until Meg had brought it up, Beth hadn’t considered that she may not be included in Amy’s future if Laurie would be there, too.

After all, if Laurie and Amy were going to be together, did Amy really need Beth?

Would Amy ask her to move out, and find another place on the island? Should she go back to Massachusetts?

Beth really wanted to be there when the baby was born, but if Amy didn’t want her or need her there, what was the point?

The sound of her younger sister’s snowing pulled Beth out of her troubled thoughts, and for a moment, she smiled.

Amy March was quite a character. Anyone would be lucky to have her.

Laurie would be lucky to have her. And that baby would be lucky to have her.

Beth tiptoed down the stairs, walked through the house, and went out the side door that led to her music studio-guesthouse.

But while she was on her way out the door, she didn’t realize that the sound of Amy’s snoring had stopped.

\-------

Beth unlocked the door and walked into her studio, switching on the lights as she did so.

This wasn’t the first time she’d found herself coming in here late at night. Luckily, the couch folded out into a hide-a-bed, so if she ever found herself getting wrapped up in writing new sheet music and didn’t feel like going back into the house, she could sleep in there.

She sat down at the keyboard, which was set up facing the couch, just in front of the open kitchen area. There was also a coffee table that sat in between the couch and the keyboard, which was where Beth tended to keep drafts of sheet music she was working on. She liked having the room set up that way because if she wanted Amy’s opinion on a piece, or if one of her students had a family member (or sometimes three) that wanted to sit in on their music lesson, it was set up like a performance space, with an audience.

When Beth didn’t want an audience, she kept the door locked and the shades drawn, letting Amy know she wanted privacy while working on her piano music. Sofia once asked her how she could keep the shades drawn while she wrote music. After all, it kept her from getting fresh air and she didn’t have a view of the outdoors, so she couldn’t get very inspired that way…?

Beth bought a fan for the room (which she kept on low, she didn’t want sheet music flying everywhere) and she let Amy paint a mural of Kalokairi’s beachfront, on the large wall behind the couch.

It was a beautiful mural, and Beth loved to look at it. She had always marveled at how talented Amy was with a paintbrush. Once upon a time, Amy had wanted to be known as the greatest painter in the world, and have fame and status.

But with the new life she’d chosen (plus a baby to raise), her dreams had clearly changed.

Beth was proud of her for still finding a way to do what she loved, and make a bit of a career out of it. She was certainly achieving status on the island for being an amazing painter and teacher, but she no longer seemed to want to take her passion beyond that.

But now Beth was starting to wonder…did she want the same thing?

She had always wanted a career in music, as a concert pianist, or a teacher at a big, fancy, music conservatory. After graduating high school, everyone had been so proud of her when she was accepted into the Boston University School of Music. She had loved it there.

But when she started to get sick and was forced to drop out halfway into her second year, that was the one time she could remember ever being outwardly angry with people.

She had been so angry at her parents for taking her out of school when all she wanted was a bit more time to finish her degree.

She was angry at the doctors for giving her a diagnosis that caused her to be bedridden, poked, and prodded, for months.

She was angry at Meg for always trying to help her look on the bright side.

And she had been angry at Jo and Amy for later leaving her to go on their own adventures. But she couldn’t tell them to stay because writing in New York had always been Jo’s dream, and traveling around Europe to paint had been Amy’s (though she probably never included Aunt March in her traveling fantasies).

All of her teachers and instructors had told Beth that they would love to have her back to complete her degree as soon as she was well. But that had been a year and a half ago now. Would they still take her back after being gone for so long?

Did she still want to go back?

A knock on the door of the studio-guesthouse made her jump, and for the second time that night, Beth found herself clearing the mist of troubled thoughts out of her head.

“Who is it?” She called out.

The door cracked open and Amy, with her long blonde hair appropriately looking like she’d just gotten out of bed, wearing a green nightgown, peeked into the room.

Beth imagined she was quite a sight herself. She was wearing pajama shorts and a t-shirt, her short red hair (which had grown to stop just below her ears) also tended to give her quite the bedhead when she woke up.

And she was also wide awake and sitting at a piano in the middle of the night, when Amy had seen her go off to bed before she did.

“Can’t sleep?” Amy asked, her voice slightly raspy, having just woken up.

Beth shook her head. “Not really. You?”

Amy shrugged, still standing in the doorway. “The baby wakes me up when she feels restless.”

Beth smiled. “You called it ‘she’.”

“Did I?”

“You did, and you’ve done that a few times before too. Is there something you’re not telling me?” Beth asked.

Amy smiled. “I guess it’s just a feeling I have,” she said “…expectant mother’s intuition.”

Beth chuckled.

“Can I come in?” Amy asked.

“Yeah, of course,” Beth replied.

Amy walked in and shut the door softly behind her.

“Are you working on something?” she asked, walking over to sit next to Beth on the piano bench.

“No, I was just thinking,” said Beth.

“About what?”

Beth shrugged. “About the future…my future.”

“What do you mean?” Amy asked.

“Well, I mean, if Laurie comes to the island and stays here with you to raise the baby, where does that leave me?” Beth asked.

“What do you mean, where does that ‘leave’ you?” Amy asked, her expression now one of concern. “Why do you think you’re getting… _left_ anywhere?”

“Well, I just mean, if Laurie’s here, you don’t really need me – “

“ – Of course I need you! You’re my sister, I always need you!” Amy was close to shouting now as she stood up from the piano bench.

“Amy, not so loud, you’ll wake everybody on the island…including the gekkos,” Beth retorted.

“Do you _want_ to leave?” Amy asked.

Beth shrugged. “Well, I hadn’t really thought about it before today.”

“So what made you start thinking about it today?” Amy asked.

“Well, Meg – “

“ – MEG?!”

“Amy, stop shouting!” Beth demanded.

“Meg has only been here on this island for a day, you and I have been here for months!” Amy reminded her. “Meg is visiting, you and I have built a life here! We live here! Together! You and I! That’s none of Meg’s business!”

“Amy, I think she had a point though…!” Beth argued. “After all, we haven’t really talked about what is going to happen when Laurie gets here!”

“ _If_ Laurie _decides_ to come here!” Amy corrected her.

“Of course he’s going to come, Amy, stop worrying about that,” Beth told her.

Amy took a breath to calm herself, then she sat back down next to Beth.

“…If-slash-when Laurie gets here,” she began, and Beth snorted “…then this baby will have three adults living in this house that love her, and care for her, and love each other very much.”

“…So, you aren’t going to want me to move out?” Beth asked.

“Elizabeth March, how dare you ever suggest such a thing,” said Amy. “We have more than enough room in this house for all of us. We’ll work it out.”

“But if Laurie – “

“ – If Laurie has a problem with my sister living with me, then he can tell me, and I will promptly kick his ass off the island,” Amy replied “…I’ve done it before, I can do it again.”

Beth smiled, and Amy’s expression softened.

“…I know you have your own dreams, Beth,” she said. “That’s why I was so worried when you first decided to move to the island with me – I didn’t want you to give up on those dreams. And I still don’t. So, if you ever want to go pursue them, and go somewhere that isn’t a giant rock in the middle of the ocean, just tell me. I don’t ever want to hold you back from what you want.”

“Well, I do want to go back to Boston University someday to finish my degree,” Beth admitted.

“You should!” said Amy. “You should do that and anything else you want. Just know that I’ll always be cheering for you, wherever you go. And you’ll always have a home here.”

Beth smiled, it was a watery smile because tears were starting to form in her eyes.

“I just don’t ever want you to be alone,” said Beth.

“Beth, I left you when you were fighting cancer to go jet-setting around Europe,” Amy reminded her. “If anyone can be accused of abandonment here, it’s me.”

Beth huffed and rolled her eyes. “You did not abandon me,” she said. “Yes, I was a little resentful because you and Jo were getting to travel and live your dreams, but I certainly wasn’t alone. I had Marmee, and Dad, and Hannah, and even Laurie’s grandfather came by to visit a lot.”

“…And if you ever had to leave, I’d have people here to look after me,” Amy told her. “Even if Laurie doesn’t come – “

“ – He will!”

“If he doesn’t, I still have Lazaros, and Sofia…” Amy smiled and rubbed her belly “…and this little peanut.”

"The peanut's starting to look more like a watermelon," Beth remarked.

Amy smacked her sister's arm lightly and tried not to laugh.

Beth chuckled and put her hand over Amy’s, resting on the younger sister's stomach.

“We’ll be OK, Beth,” Amy told her. “Whatever you and I decide to do, we’ll be OK.”

Tears were starting to roll down Beth’s cheeks now, and she wiped at them with her free hand. Amy gave a watery laugh (her eyes were getting a little glassy themselves) and wiped Beth's cheeks also.

Suddenly, Amy gave a sharp intake of breath and looked down at her belly.

“What happened? What’s wrong?” Beth asked.

Amy looked over at Beth and smiled.

“Did you feel that?” she asked.

“Feel what?”

Amy took Beth’s hand and moved it to the right side of her belly.

That’s when Beth felt – well, she definitely felt something.

It surprised her so much, she snatched her hand back and her eyes went wide.

“…What the hell was that?!” she asked.

Amy grinned.

“She’s kicking!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just wanted to note that, in reference to the title, the love that saves Amy is not only Laurie's, but also that of her sisters in this case. :)  
> And before you hate Meg, give her a chance! There is more coming and Meg's side of things will be explained.  
> Also I loved writing that end scene between Beth and Amy. I've always been so terrible at writing confrontations and scenes that may not be comfortable for characters that I love, but this confrontation wasn't so hard to write. And that's probably because they're sisters, they're family, and they'll love each other no matter what. They just both needed reassurance and to to make sure they were both on the same page.  
> Also, I've never sent a letter internationally, so I don't know how long it would take a letter to get from Greece to Massachussets, or anywhere else. But for the sake of the story, we're gonna say that it takes a week.


	7. I Believe In Angels

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this chapter includes more heart-to-heart's, and one VERY big heartwarming moment...enjoy. :)  
> (Also keep in mind that this takes place in the 1970's, and ultrasound machines weren't used as widely as they are today)

The next morning, Meg, Jo, and Beth were all rushing around the house; showering, getting dressed, eating breakfast, and doing the dishes…but one sister was noticeably missing from their activities.

“AMY MARCH, THIS IS YOUR WAKE UP CALL!” Jo shouted up the stairs.

“Come on, Amy! The post office opens in half an hour!” Meg called out from beside Jo.

“How could you possibly know that?!” Amy shouted back from her room.

“Beth told us!”

“BETH!”

“Amy, today’s the day!” Beth called up the stairs. “Come on, get moving! We gotta go!”

Ten minutes later (because Jo actually stood outside her bathroom door and yammered at her to hurry through her shower), Amy came downstairs showered, fully-dressed, and looking less than excited.

“Have you got the letter?” Beth asked.

Amy held up the envelope in her hand.

“Are we sure it has the correct postage?” Meg asked. “We don’t want it sent back, it needs to have the right amount of stamps!”

Amy shrugged and handed it to Beth and Meg to double-check, then she glanced over to see Jo was staring at her.

“…What?” Amy snapped.

“Are those my overalls?” Jo asked, referring to the blue jean overalls Amy was wearing, with a yellow t-shirt underneath.

“I don’t know, Jo, did you ever wear maternity wear?” Amy asked, sarcastically. “…I do have a pair of your overalls, though. But you can probably have them back, seeing as how I don’t fit into them anymore.”

“You will, Amy,” Meg told her.

Jo frowned at Meg.

“Did you just give her permission to keep my overalls?” Jo asked.

“Well, have you really been missing them, Jo?” Meg asked.

As Meg and Jo argued, Amy gazed at all of her sisters. They all looked, thin, comfortable, and beautiful. Meg was wearing a knee-length skirt with a nice blouse, and Jo and Beth were both wearing cut-off jean shorts with tank tops that both looked just a little loose on them.

Whereas Amy felt like an ugly whale.

“I’m an ugly whale,” she said.

Her sisters immediately spoke up with a loud chorus of “NO…!”

“I’m an ugly whale and Laurie’s gonna be horrified and repulsed as soon as he gets here and sees me,” Amy grumbled.

Meg stepped forward and put her hand on Amy’s shoulder.

“Amy, I’ve been through pregnancy,” she reminded her. “There are definitely some aspects about it that are not fun, including when you start to feel like an ‘ugly whale’. But I promise you, you are beautiful, and Laurie is going to think you’re beautiful when he finally gets here, and – “

“ – And stop stalling, we have to go to the post office before the mail goes out!” Jo retorted.

“It’s got enough stamps on it, Amy,” said Beth. “This letter will make it all the way to Massachusetts.”

Amy nodded, and exhaled a shaky breath.

“Alright now let’s go!” Jo exclaimed, and they all headed out the door.

\-------

Beth drove them down to the post office in the jeep. They actually got there with plenty of time before the postmaster sent the mail out. He was still opening up the office for the day when the four young women came rushing in.

“Has the outgoing mail been sent out to the mainland yet?” Beth asked.

“No,” answered the older man.

“Oh great!” said Jo, slapping the letter on the counter. “Because it is very important that this letter goes out today!”

“It needs to go to America!” Meg told him. “It’s very important – it’s for love!”

“Meg, I don’t think he needs to know that!” Amy snapped, then she turned to the older man with a forced smile. “…Forgive her, she was a theatre major, so she tends to be a bit of a drama queen.”

“He needs to know that it’s important, Amy!” Meg argued.

“I think he gets the message, Meg!” Amy shot back.

The postmaster picked up the letter and examined it.

“It got correct postage?” he asked.

“Yes!” all four sisters answered.

He looked over the envelope and nodded.

“OK, I put it out to with the rest of the outgoing mail going to mainland,” he said.

“And that’s mail that’s going out today, right?” Jo asked. “It needs to go out today!”

“Yes, it go out today,” the old man replied.

Jo, Meg, and Beth all cheered and high-fived, while Amy just stood there looking extremely uneasy.

“…You ladies never send out mail before, or something?” the old man asked.

Amy rolled her eyes and started ushering her sisters out the door.

“No, the concept of letter-writing just really excites them,” Amy told him. “They love…the postal service.”

Amy was the last one out after pushing all of her sisters out the door. After she left the old postmaster chuckled.

“Mama was right, American women is crazy…”

\------

A few hours later, the girls went out for lunch. Beth and Amy both still had the day off from working at the restaurant, but they took Meg and Jo there because it was their favourite place to eat on the island, anyway.

It also gave Sofia and Lazaros the chance to meet Meg and Jo.

“Lazaros, these are our sisters, Meg and Jo,” Beth introduced as Lazaros walked over to their table.

“Ah, so you are the rest of the beautiful bouquet…!” Lazaros exclaimed.

As he went to kiss Meg’s hand, then Jo’s, they both looked at Beth and Amy with quizzical expressions.

“He thinks we’re pretty, just go with it,” said Amy, waving her hand dismissively as she ate her second piece of bread from the bread basket.

Jo and Meg seemed to like this answer because they both beamed at Lazaros.

“Now,” said Lazaros, taking out his notepad and a pen “…what can I get for beautiful ladies - ?”

But Sofia was already placing a very full plate of meat and vegetables down in front of Amy.

“Oh,” Amy looked down at the large amount of food. “Sofia, I actually wasn’t – “

Sofia cut her off by saying something in Greek that sounded downright demanding, so Amy promptly closed her mouth and Sofia walked away to serve other customers.

“What did she say?” Meg asked Lazaros.

“Basically, she say ‘shut up and eat’,” Lazaros replied. “Mama always likes to make sure everybody she likes is cared for.”

“Then why didn’t she bring me any food?” Beth asked.

“You having baby too?” Lazaros asked.

“No.”

“Well, when you do, Mama gonna feed you and not let you argue about it either,” Lazaros promised. “Now, what can I feed you lovely ladies today?”

\------

“Are you sure you’re OK doing this much walking?” Jo asked, as she and Amy walked together down by the water, with Beth and Meg a short distance behind them.

Amy groaned. “I’m fine,” she insisted. “Everyone’s always telling me to ‘sit’, and ‘lie down’, and ‘stay’…it makes me feel like a golden retriever.”

Jo laughed.

Amy smiled herself as she looked out toward the ocean.

“…You seem to have a really nice life, here, Amy,” said Jo. “I’m proud of you.”

Amy glanced back at her in surprise. “You are?” she said.

Jo nodded.

“You’re out here making a life for yourself; building a home, a long way from the one you grew up in,” said Jo. “…It takes a lot of courage to do that.”

Amy shrugged.

“You’re doing the same thing in New York,” she said.

“Yeah, but that’s moving to another state, not a whole other country,” Jo pointed out, with a smirk. “I’ll be honest, I never pegged you as someone who would take a risk like this, be so independent.”

“Honestly, I didn’t either,” Amy told her. “But it’s not as if I’m completely independent…I’ve got Beth here with me.”

“Yes, but you made the choice to stay here even before Beth did,” Jo reminded her. “You found out that you were pregnant, and your automatic response was that you were ready and willing to make a home by yourself, without help from anyone.”

Amy blushed and shrugged. “I guess…” she mumbled.

Jo grinned, threw her arm around Amy’s shoulders, and kissed her on the side of her head.

“Amy March, you really are extraordinary,” she said.

\------

“It really is so gorgeous out here,” Meg mused, as she looked out at the water while they walked on the beach, behind Amy and Jo.

“Yeah, it is pretty amazing,” said Beth, though her tone lacked enthusiasm, and she was looking at the ground as she walked.

Meg put her hand on her sister’s shoulder, and they stopped walking.

“Beth, I’m sorry for upsetting you last night,” she said, her eyes full of regret. “I really didn’t mean to. I guess I was just tired from the trip – “

“ – You weren’t tired, you were just being you,” Beth told her. “You worry about all of us, you always have. You’re the oldest, it’s your job.”

“I just…I want to make sure you’re getting the life you want too, y’know?” said Meg. “Things with you were bad for a while, and ever since you went into remission, I…I want to make sure you never have any regrets.”

Beth nodded. “Me too,” she said.

“Yeah?”

“Yeah,” Beth replied. “But with the way life is…sometimes you do have regrets, and you just have to learn to live with them. That’s not to say that I want to completely settle for anything. I do have a few things I’ve always wanted to do, and I still want to do them…but maybe I won’t get to everything, and that’s OK.”

Meg smiled at her with understanding. “Yeah, I know what that’s like. Having two kids and a limited income doesn’t give me as many opportunities as I’d like…”

“But you still love your life.”

“I do,” said Meg.

Beth nodded. “I love mine too,” she said. “And Amy and I did end up talking about it. And if, one day, I ever do decide to leave and go on my own adventure, maybe go back to school, she’s gonna support me. And that’s all I want, Meg. That’s all I need.”

Meg smiled, with a slight glint of tears in her eyes, and gave Beth a hug.

“You truly are the best of us, Beth,” she said, her arms wrapped around her sister.

Beth wrapped her arms around Meg and patted her back.

“What can I say?” she replied. “It just comes naturally…”

\-----

“Tell me a story, Jo,” said Amy, rubbing her belly.

The four sisters were relaxing in the living room, having just finished dinner. Amy and Beth were sitting on the couch, Meg was sitting next to them in an arm chair, and Jo was sitting on a cushion on the floor.

“Why do you want a story?” Jo asked.

“I haven’t heard or read anything you’ve written in a long time,” Amy reminded her.

“Well, you would have if you’d read some of my letters,” Jo pointed out.

“I know, but the baby wants a story,” said Amy, with a smile. “Tell the baby a story, Jo.”

Jo rolled her eyes.

“Well, that’s just playing dirty…” she grumbled. But Jo crawled over to the couch where Amy was sitting and stretched up a bit so that her face was just over Amy’s belly.

“Once upon a time,” Jo began, “your mommy was a mean little girl who set fire to my manuscript.”

“Hey!”

“And made a plaster-cast of her feet for a boy she liked,” Meg added, with a laugh.

“ – Who happens to be your father,” Jo added, talking to the belly.

“OK – “

“ – She also got in constant trouble at school for making caricatures of teachers!” Beth exclaimed, giggling.

“All I wanted was a nice little bedtime story for my unborn child, and you guys turn it into Amy March’s Greatest Hits,” Amy retorted, trying her best to hide the smile on her face.

“Well, the child deserves to know,” said Jo, with a grin, as Meg and Beth laughed.

“At this rate, the child is going to come out already judging me!” said Amy.

“Oh no it won’t,” said Meg. “It’s not going to judge you after it sees that because of you, it’s going to grow up to be extremely good-looking.”

“Thank you, Meg,” said Amy, glad that someone was on her side.

“…Mostly because of Laurie,” Meg added.

The three older sisters howled with laughter as Amy crossed her arms over her chest and tried to pout, but her own laughter got the best of her.

\-----

Two weeks flew by. Amy tried to distract herself from waiting for Laurie’s letter by spending time with her sisters. They spent time at the beach, explored the island (which mostly involved someone commenting, “…Amy, are you sure you’re OK – OW! Amy! Don’t hit me!”) and did some shopping.

Meg picked up some things to bring home for Daisy, Demi, and John. They all picked out some gifts to send home for Marmee, Dad, and Hannah (which led to several more arguments about when Amy was going to tell her parents about her pregnancy), and Amy, Beth and Meg all tried to hold back their smiles when they heard Jo say, “…Oh, this seems like something Friedrich might enjoy…”

All three sisters even insisted on going with Amy to a doctor’s appointment at the women’s clinic. Meaning, they got into the jeep before her, with Beth in the driver’s seat, and refused to get out until Amy agreed to let them go with her.

So she walked into the exam room, looking less than happy, followed by her three excited sisters.

Her doctor, Sofia’s daughter Anastasia, was extremely patient with the older March sisters. She was warm and friendly, and answered all of their questions and concerns, and also referred a few books for them to read.

When Anastasia performed the ultrasound and let the wand glide over the cool gel on Amy’s belly, all four sisters stared at the monitor in front of them and none of them said a word…because they were all trying not to cry.

Jo was standing at Amy’s right shoulder, Meg was on her left, and Beth was next to Jo, closer to Amy’s elbow. They had each laid a gentle hand on Amy as the ultrasound had started, and it didn’t seem like they’d be letting go anytime soon.

Amy was surprisingly okay with that as she watched the screen in front of her. At that point, her sisters’ hands felt like the only thing keeping her grounded…because she felt so happy she could float.

“Oh my God, Amy…!” Meg exclaimed, teary-eyed, glancing over at her youngest sister. Of course, she would be the first one to break the silence.

Amy continued to stay silent as she blinked back tears and stared at her baby on the ultrasound monitor.

“So, everything’s okay, right?” Amy finally asked. “I mean, it looks healthy, is the baby healthy?”

Anastasia nodded.

“The baby is very healthy,” she told her, with a smile.

All four sisters let out sighs of relief.

“…Do you want to know the sex?” Anastasia asked.

“I can know my baby’s sex?” Amy asked, surprised.

Anastasia nodded.

“Ultrasound machines, as they are getting more common in clinics and hospitals, are getting much clearer pictures as technology is advancing,” she told her. “Picture is clear enough for me to tell, if you like.”

Amy looked up at Meg.

“…Did you know your babies’ sex before they were born?” she asked.

Meg laughed. “No, John and I had enough of a shock finding out we were having twins, we couldn’t take so much emotion all in one day,” she replied.

“So, I shouldn’t find out?” Amy asked.

Meg shrugged.

“Well, it’s your baby, Amy…”

“Yeah, and you’re only having one, so it’s not quite as dramatic,” Jo told her, then she looked over at Anastasia. “…It is just one baby in there, right?”

Anastasia nodded.

“Yes, just one,” she answered.

Amy looked over at Beth.

“Should I…?” she asked, tentatively.

Beth smiled and shrugged.

“Like Meg said, it’s your baby, you make the decisions,” Beth told her.

Amy nodded. Then she closed her eyes, and let out a breath.

“OK,” she said, grabbing Beth’s hand and looking over at the doctor. “…OK, tell me.”

“It is a girl,” said Anastasia. “Congratulations.”

Amy immediately started to cry (but it was OK because they were happy tears).

Jo, Beth, and Meg all cheered. Jo and Meg high-fived and Beth leaned over and gave Amy a hug.

A moment later, Jo and Meg joined in.


	8. I Wanna Know the Name of the Game

A letter finally arrived on the day Meg would be leaving to go home.

Jo would be staying for a few weeks more because her work and home life was much more flexible than Meg’s; Meg being a mother of two small children and a teacher who needed to start working on her fall lesson plan, and Jo being a single writer who didn’t have a fixed timetable when it came to her work. She contributed articles to several different magazines and newspapers. She was of course, also working on a novel in her spare time, and found that the atmosphere of Kalokairi gave her a lot of inspiration, like it gave Amy with her painting.

While Meg fretted around the farmhouse that morning, packing and worrying that she wouldn’t be there when the letter came (“I don’t want the three of you to be able to read it without me, that’s hardly fair!”), Amy fretted on the front porch.

She paced back and forth, up and down the large porch. She felt fortunate that the house had a clear view of the dock that was just down the hill, that was where the boat with the island’s mail would arrive. Jo was with her, but she wasn’t much help to ease her sister’s worried mind, as she was dozing off in her chair.

Amy felt like she was looking down at the dock every two minutes, or less. She was starting to feel like she was going crazy.

Just then, she saw a boat pull up to the dock, and a man got out carrying some large boxes.

Amy took a pair of binoculars that were sitting on the small table next to Jo and used them to look over at the new arrival. She held them up to her eyes and focused on the boxes that were being carried down the dock.

Her heart just about jumped into her throat when she saw the image clearly - because Amy knew enough Greek to know that the large scrawled writing on the boxes said “Kalokairi – Mail”.

“JO!” she cried. “Jo, it’s here!”

Jo jolted awake in her chair. “What’s here now?” she asked, with a yawn.

“The mail!” Amy exclaimed, pointing out to the dock. “It’s just been brought to the island!”

Suddenly Jo’s eyes went wide. “OH SHIT…!” she exclaimed, standing up.

“BETH! MEG…!” Amy yelled into the house. “The mail’s here! The boat arrived!”

There were sounds of people rushing down the stairs inside, and Meg and Beth burst out the front door onto the porch.

“Where is he?” Meg asked. “Is that the mailman?”

“He’s not the mailman, he delivers the boxes of mail to the post office and it gets delivered by the mailmen, or _mail-people_ , that are here on the island!” Beth told her, as they watched the man setting the boxes of mail down on the dock and look at his watch.

“I’m pretty sure the proper term isn’t ‘mail-people’, but we’ll come back to that another time,” said Jo. “Why is he checking his watch?”

Suddenly Amy’s eyes widened. “Because the truck that picks up the mail isn’t there yet!” she exclaimed.

“So – “

“GET IN THE JEEP!”

They all hurried into the jeep, with Amy in the driver’s seat, and sped off down the road to the dock.

Unfortunately, just as they reached the dock, the mail truck had arrived, and was now pulling away, having just loaded up the boxes of mail for the island.

Amy stopped the jeep and they all stared as the mail truck drove away, ahead of them. The delivery man from the boat smiled and gave them a friendly wave from the dock.

The March sisters all put on strained smiles and waved back.

“…Well,” said Meg, “I suppose we could – “

But before she could even finish, Amy had put the jeep in ‘drive’ and was speeding off after the mail truck.

“Amy, slow down!” Beth hollered over the wind, as they sped down the road.

“Shut up, I’m on a mission!” Amy snapped.

She started honking the jeep’s horn to get the attention of the driver of the mail truck, who wasn’t that far ahead of them now.

She honked even more, trying to make it sound urgent, and all the girl started waving their arms and yelling “Pull over! Pull over…!” hoping the driver could see them.

The mail truck pulled over to the side of the road, and all the girls breathed sighs of relief as Amy pulled in behind him.

They all hurried out of the jeep and over to the truck as the truck driver got out and walked towards them.

“What, you crazy?!” he exclaimed. “Crazy idiot girls! What you think you’re doing! I have to go!”

“We know,” said Beth. “But we’re hoping you have a letter that we’ve been expecting.”

“Well, then wait ‘til it gets delivered - !”

Amy yanked on the man’s shirt, pulling him closer to her, and gave him a look that was downright menacing.

“I need that letter _now_ ,” she said. “Right. Now.”

“…Have at it,” the man finally said, looking just a little nervous. “But there is lot of mail to go through – “

“ – That’s OK, it shouldn’t take us long if we each take a box,” said Jo, already at the back of the truck. “Do you have a key for the trunk?”

The delivery man opened the back of the truck, used a knife to slice through the seals on the boxes, and the sisters all took one box each and started looking through them.

“…Anybody found anything?” Meg asked, after a few minutes.

“Well, I found a few bills in Amy’s name…” said Jo, as she leafed through different sizes of envelopes.

“Oh good, just what I really need,” Amy mumbled.

Then she stopped.

“What is it, Amy?” Beth asked, and the other two stopped to look over at Amy as well. “Did you find the letter?”

“…I did,” said Amy, as she pulled an envelope out of the box in front of her. “…It’s a letter addressed to Amy March…. from Mr. H. Laurence, Concord Massachusetts.”

“That’s Laurie’s grandfather,” said Beth.

“Well, that’s probably just because Laurie’s mailing it from his grandfather’s address,” Meg suggested.

“But this has his grandfather’s address _and_ his name,” said Amy, staring at the letter. “…Which means it’s from Laurie’s grandfather, not Laurie.”

“Hey, ladies, I gotta go now, OK?” the delivery man spoke up. “I gotta seal all these boxes back up and make it look like I didn’t commit no crimes, then I gotta get these to the post office.”

“Yes, thank you so much,” said Jo, as the girls put the boxes back into the truck. “We got what we needed, thank you.”

The man nodded as the sisters all walked back to the jeep, looking less excited then when they had first pulled over.

Amy solemnly looked down at the letter in her hand as she reached the driver’s side of the jeep.

“Hey!” the delivery man called out.

Amy looked up from the envelope in her hand and glanced over at him.

“I hope it’s good news,” said the man, and he offered her a smile.

Despite thinking the exact opposite, Amy smiled back.

“Me too,” she said.

Then she got back into the jeep, where her sisters were already all buckled in and ready to go, and she started the car and headed back home.

\-----

After they got back to the farmhouse, the March sisters all went to sit on the porch and read Mr. Laurence’s letter to Amy.

Amy and Beth sat on the bench seat, and Meg and Jo each sat on the wicker chairs next to it as Amy opened the envelope and took out the letter that was inside.

Amy’s eyes scanned over the piece of paper and she smiled, sadly.

“…He says that Laurie’s gone to London,” she said.

“When?” Meg asked.

“A few months ago,” she replied. “He left to go work at Mr. Laurence’s London branch of his company. He apparently decided it was finally time to make something of himself instead of just, and I quote, ‘lazing around all day’.”

Beth glanced over at Jo.

“Jo, you didn’t know about this?” she asked.

Jo shrugged. “We’ve both been so busy, we haven’t actually written to each other or talked very much at all over the past few months,” she replied. “Marmee mentioned, during a phone call, that he’d gone off somewhere, but I was having this really great story idea at the time, so I was writing while she was talking – “

The other three all groaned.

Amy looked back down at the letter and sighed. “He says he’s going to forward my letter to Laurie’s London address immediately, and that he’s sorry if there was any confusion.”

“Wait, so we have to wait another two weeks…?!” Jo asked, with a groan.

"No, just one," Beth reminded her. "Because Mr. Laurence got the letter and sent one back to Amy, and probably sent Amy's off to Laurie on the same day, which means that Laurie's - "

" - Oh my God, please stop talking about the logistics of the postal system!" Amy shouted, massaging her temples.

“Oh, that’s not fair!” Meg whined. “I have to leave today! I won’t know what his letter says!”

Amy sighed and rose from her seat.

“Meg, the ferry gets here in about two hours to go to the mainland,” she told her older sister. “Are you all packed?”

“Well, yes, but – “

“ – Good, I’m gonna go make some breakfast,” said Amy, and she walked into the house.

“…Didn’t we already have breakfast?” Jo asked.

“She’s pregnant and frustrated with her love life, now is not the time to challenge her eating habits,” Beth told her.

\-------

They all drove down to the dock to see Meg off on the ferry.

Meg hugged all of her sisters, with tears in her eyes. Not just because she would miss them, but also because she was still upset that she was going to miss Laurie’s response to Amy’s letter.

Meg had always loved a good love story.

She hugged Amy the longest, of course.

“…Don’t worry, he’ll be here in no time,” Meg whispered in her ear. “Have faith, Amy.”

Amy managed a smile for her oldest sister, and she, Beth, and Jo all waved to her and shouted goodbyes as she left on the ferry.

When the ferry was far enough away, Amy glanced at her watch and looked over at her other two sisters.

“OK, it’s time for me to go to work,” she said, and she started to head to the jeep.

Beth and Jo glanced at each other in confusion then hurried to catch up with her.

“Amy, you can’t possibly go to work today…!” Jo told her.

“Why not? It’s not like I’m so fat, I can’t walk around and wait tables,” Amy replied.

“But Amy…you’re sad,” said Beth.

“Sad people still have to pay rent and buy groceries, Beth,” said Amy, hopping into the driver’s seat of the jeep. “Beth you have the dinner shift, right? You want me to drop you guys off at the house before I head to the restaurant?”

Beth shook her head.

“No, we can walk back to the house,” she said.

Amy shrugged. “Suit yourself,” she said. “See you guys later.”

With that, she sped off down the road, heading to work at the restaurant.

\-----

Sofia was, of course, at the restaurant when Amy arrived, because she wanted to know what Laurie’s letter had said. Amy quickly told her what happened as she tied on an apron and started to polish the water glasses.

She made herself busy throughout her shift; rushing to fill water glasses, taking meal and drink orders, serving meal and drink orders, clearing off tables, and resetting them with clean dishes and cutlery.

She had been rushing around non-stop for so long that Lazaros finally had to step in front of her (which caused her to walk right into him) and demand that she take her lunch break.

“…So, he didn’t get letter when you thought he would, but he will!” Sofia assured her, as they sat down at a table on the side patio.

Amy sighed. “I’m so tired, Sofia,” she finally admitted.

“Well, that because you been rushing around all morning – !”

“ – No, I don’t just mean today,” Amy cut in. “I mean…doing all this worrying, about Laurie. I’ve got so many other things to worry about and now I’ve set myself up to worry about my love life, too. Worrying about boys and love and stuff, it’s what young, “Little Amy” used to do! I was so whiny and bratty back then. And when I moved here, I really thought I was growing up and maturing, becoming a proper adult, being independent and putting myself first – “ she glanced down at her pregnant belly “ – well, second.”

She scrubbed at her face with her hands and moaned, then glanced at the older woman.

“…And now I’m back to thinking about Laurie, and driving myself crazy wondering if he’s thinking about me,” she continued. “I feel like I never really grew up at all, I just got pregnant and changed my mailing address.”

Sofia chuckled.

“I’m still as pathetic as I ever was,” Amy muttered.

Sofia shook her head and patted Amy’s hand.

“Amy March, you grown up and matured more in these last few months than a lot of people I know have in twenty years,” she said. “I met you when you first come to Greece, you remember? I see how you were. Not that there was anything wrong with how you were, I liked you instantly – your old aunt was another story…”

Amy snorted back a laugh.

“…You look at things with dreamer’s eyes, not that there’s anything wrong with that, and you still got a bit of that look about you, too,” Sofia went on. “But now, you also look at things with determination, and how you say – practicality? You found a new dream for yourself and you made it work, with hard work. You don’t stay the same when you go through something like that.”

Amy smiled, her eyes starting to fill with tears.

Sofia moved her hand from sitting on top of Amy’s hand to rest softly on her cheek.

“You very strong, smart, passionate woman, Amy March,” Sofia told her. “Not a single thing pathetic about you.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know it's a little shorter, but focus on the QUALITY aspect rather than QUANTITY and let me know what you thought of this chapter. Still more to come, never fear!


	9. Oh Please, Don't Let Me Down

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow. I'll be honest guys, I got next to no feedback on chapter 7 originally so I didn't think many people were paying attention to this story anymore. But then I got a bunch of reviews for chapter 8, and it was totally like that awards show moment where Sally Field goes, "YOU LIKE ME! YOU REALLY LIKE ME!"  
> Thanks guys!!!!!  
> This is another short one, but it contains something you've all been waiting for - a letter from Mr. Theodore Laurence, HIMSELF!

One week later, in the early morning, Amy was sleeping in her bed when she started to feel something push on her upper arm.

“Amy…” she heard, very faintly as she came out of sleep.

“Amy…” a little louder now, and something was jiggling her arm, which was very annoying.

“Amy…!”

Amy groaned and rolled over in bed, then she opened her eyes just a little – and let out a shriek.

Beth and Jo, who had been standing over her and staring at her while she slept, jumped in surprise.

“What the hell is wrong with you two?!” Amy demanded, sitting up and staring angrily at her sisters.

“We were just trying to wake you up,” Beth told her.

“Well, you succeeded!”

“Jo wanted to pour a bucket of water on you, but I thought we should do something a bit more subtle,” said Beth.

“So, you decided to stand over me and stare at me, so that was the first creepy thing I’d see when I woke up?!” Amy snapped.

“See?” said Jo, turning to Beth. “I told you a bucket of water was the better option.”

Amy rubbed her eyes and grunted. She still wasn’t sleeping well, and now thanks to her sisters, she was extra grouchy that morning.

“Did you two wake me up at the buttcrack of dawn for a reason?” she asked.

“Well, yeah…” said Beth. “…Laurie’s letter should be coming today.”

Amy sighed.

“Mm-hmm, and…?”

“ _And_ …?!” Jo and Beth echoed.

Jo turned to Beth with a frustrated look. “’ _And_ ’, she says…!”

“Look, if you guys wanna go chase down the mail truck again, be my guest,” Amy grumbled, then flopped back down on the bed and closed her eyes. “It’s my day off, so I’m gonna sleep for a while longer.”

“But Amy - !”

“ – I refuse to get my hopes up again, Beth,” Amy told her sister, pulling the comforter up to her chin and keeping her eyes closed. “My hopes are staying where they are. You two do what you like. I am not in a rush for anything, today.”

Jo rolled her eyes and yanked Amy’s pillow out from under her head, then smacked her in the face with it.

“Amy, his letter is coming today!” she said. “I know it! And I know you know it, too!”

Amy sat up, leaning on her elbow, and glared at Jo.

“I will read the mail when it gets to the house,” she said, her voice cold and leaving no room for arguments. “Now, _go away_.”

Amy then grabbed her pillow from Jo, stuffed it back under her head, and pulled the comforter up over her head.

Jo and Beth both stared down at her blanket-covered form for a moment.

“…I’ll go find a bucket,” said Jo, starting for the hallway. But Beth lightly grabbed her arm and when Jo glanced back at her, shook her head.

“We’ll call you when the mail gets to the house, OK, Amy?” Beth offered, as they two older sisters started to leave the room together.

From under the comforter, Amy gave a noncommittal grunt in response.

\-------

An hour and a half later, Amy finally came downstairs. Having stayed in bed long enough that she felt satisfied she wasn’t rushing anything, she had gotten up and showered, taken time to pick out an outfit and brush her hair, then put it up in a bun. She did not feel rushed or anxious in the slightest.

Nope. Not. At. All.

Not even when she walked into the kitchen and saw her sisters sitting at the table, eating breakfast…and noticed Beth reading a letter. She also saw that there was a small stack of letter-sized envelopes sitting in front of Beth, in the middle of the table.

But she would not get her hopes up, as she had said before. There was no point. It would just hurt even more when she got disappointed yet again, so she would not hope for anything.

So, Amy calmly sat down at the end of the table and helped herself to some eggs and toast, which were sitting right next to the stack of mail in front of Beth.

Amy poured herself some juice, then quietly drank from the glass as her sisters both glanced at each other and smiled.

Wordlessly, Beth took an envelope off the top of the stack of mail and slid it over to Amy.

It had _a lot_ of stamps on it, was marked ‘URGENT!” and was addressed to Amy March in Kalokairi, Greece…from Theodore Laurence in London, England.

Amy looked at Beth. Beth smiled back at Amy.

Amy looked over at Jo. Jo smiled and wiggled her eyebrows.

Amy let out a slow, steady breath, turned the envelope over, and ripped it open at the top.

One single sheet of paper was inside.

Amy took out the piece of paper, unfolded it, and read what it said.

_Dear Amy,_

_I love you. I love you so much and I can’t wait to see you again. And I’m so glad to hear that you still want to see me._

_I’m on my way, Amy. I’ll be there as fast as I can._

_Yours,_

_Laurie_

Amy smiled and stared at the word “yours”. She loved that that word, especially, was meant just for her, from him.

She looked up from the letter and saw her sisters giving her expectant looks.

“Well…?” Jo asked, an excited smile on her face.

Amy smiled. She looked back at Jo, then over at Beth.

…Then she folded the paper back up and tucked it into its envelope, got up from her chair and walked out of the kitchen, without a word.

She grinned as she heard her sisters scraping their chairs across the floor and starting to run after her, never before had two young women sounded like such a herd of elephants.

“AMY MARCH, YOU GET YOUR ASS BACK HERE! I AM NOT AFRAID TO TACKLE A PREGNANT WOMAN!”

\-----

He was coming to her.

But given the fact that the letter had taken a week to get to Kalokairi, Amy had no idea how close Laurie was.

Jo and Beth took it upon themselves to make an emergency long distance call to Massachusetts. Sofia happily gave them permission to make the call from the restaurant, before Lazaros had a chance to gripe about long distance fees.

They decided to call Meg because they knew she was eager to hear what Laurie had written, and also because they wanted to know if she had heard anything from Laurie’s grandfather about when he would be arriving.

“Mr. Laurence says Laurie called him as soon as he received Amy’s letter!” Meg exclaimed over the phone. Her voice was a bit hard to hear with the staticky long-distance reception. They heard her laugh, as they shared the phone receiver between them. “He wanted to make sure that it was real!”

“Did he say anything about when Laurie would be getting here?” Beth asked, speaking loudly to ensure that Meg could hear her.

A few restaurant patrons looked over at the girls sitting at the counter and gave them dirty looks.

The girls themselves weren’t paying attention to the other patrons, but Sofia was. She glared back at the guests and raised an eyebrow, challenging them to say anything.

Everyone immediately returned their attention to their food.

“…He said Laurie had to ‘work things out’ at his job in London, but from what he told me Laurie will be leaving for Greece today!” Meg exclaimed.

“It took him a whole week to ‘work things out’ at his job?” Jo asked. “What kinda work was he doing?”

“I have no idea, but his grandfather said he’s been keeping extremely busy over the past few months,” Meg replied.

“It does take a lot to keep one’s mind off of a March girl,” Beth quipped, quoting something her mother always said.

“OK wait…” said Jo, lost in thought. “So, if he’s leaving London today then – “

“ – Then he’ll probably be here by tonight,” said Beth, grinning, London was only a few short hours from Greece via airplane.

They were both so happy as they left the restaurant, they took no heed of the clouds that were slowly starting to gather in the sky…

\----


	10. Caught In a Landslide of Emotions

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As the title suggests, this chapter will bring out a lot of emotions. A LOT. Fair warning.

When Jo and Beth got back to the house, they found Amy in the backyard, unpinning clean linens from the clothesline and putting them in a laundry basket at her feet.

Amy felt the breeze on her face and smiled. It had been so hot lately, it was nice to finally get a little wind. She glanced up and noticed some grey clouds in the sky. There weren’t so many clouds that it looked like there was any bad weather to worry about, at least not at that second, so Amy just continued on with her laundry.

Amy then spotted her sisters running up to her, across the yard, and she couldn’t help but feel a little excited.

“So, what did Meg say?” she asked, as she started to fold a bedsheet that she’d just taken off the line.

“Oh, Amy…!” Beth exclaimed, as they stopped right in front of her. “He may be here as early as tonight!”

Amy dropped the clean, folded bedsheet onto the ground and stared at her sisters in shock.

“What?!” she cried, her cool, calm, and collected exterior was completely gone now. “When tonight? How early? How late?”

“Well, Meg didn’t know – “

“ – Well, then what good is she?!” Amy snapped, though she sounded more panicked than actually angry. “For all I know, he could get here after I’ve already gone to sleep, pull the blankets back on my bed, see my pregnant belly, gasp in horror, and run out of the house and back on the ferry before I even wake up!”

“Oh Amy, I hardly think – “

“ – You think, but you don’t _know_ , Beth! You DON’T KNOW!” Amy was beside herself now. “…Oh my God, my pajamas. He could see me in my pajamas and all of my pajamas are hideous. They’re sweatpants, and nightgowns with holes in them - !”

“ – Amy your pajamas are fine,” Beth told her.

“…And all my other clothes!” Amy continued, like she hadn’t even heard Beth. “All my clothes are ugly, and they have stains on them, and they make me look fat…! YOU SEE THIS IS WHAT HAPPENS WHEN I GET MY HOPES UP! I realize how screwed I am!”

“Look, if you want, we can go shopping for a new outfit for you this afternoon,” Beth suggested.

“Oh God, more clothes shopping…?” Jo whined.

Beth and Amy both glared at her.

“…I mean, ‘oh God, more clothes shopping’!” Jo exclaimed, putting on an excited tone and smiling.

“We’ll find you a dress,” Beth told her younger sister. “…A very pretty maternity dress that flatters your…shape.”

“I don’t need one that flatters it, I need one that flattens it,” Amy grumbled, looking down at her large belly.

“Hey, now,” Jo piped up, stepping forward and putting a hand on Amy’s belly. “…That’s my little niece in that belly, don’t you be ashamed of her.”

“I’m not ashamed of her, I’m ashamed of the fact that I have no self-control so I’ve been eating like a pig, so I’m way bigger than I should be at six months pregnant!”

“You are not,” Beth told her. “Remember? At your last appointment, Anastasia said you’re very healthy and your weight is typical for being six months along.”

“Besides, if you had any self-control, you wouldn’t be pregnant anyway,” said Jo.

Amy and Beth both smacked her at that point.

“OW!” Jo yelped. “Hey, have we forgotten that we have an objective here? We have to go shopping , don’t we?”

“Jo’s right,” said Amy, rushing to pull down the remaining bedsheets on the clothesline. “We’re burning daylight here! We gotta go now!”

She then started running towards the house, bedsheets in her arms.

Beth took off after her, and Jo started after them, then glanced down at the full laundry basket on the ground that Amy had left behind. She groaned in frustration, walked back to pick up the basket, and hurried after her sisters.

“Shopping and laundry…” Jo grumbled. “…My two favourite things to do on vacation!”

\------

The sisters got back to the farmhouse a few hours later, after finding Amy a nice dress (which wasn’t easy, because she thought everything made her look like a whale covered in a tent), and some groceries to make dinner that evening. While they had been out, they had stopped by the restaurant to beg Sofia to help them make something for Amy and Laurie’s reunion dinner, and Sofia had happily obliged.

As they headed into the house, Beth couldn’t help but glance up to the sky, at the clouds that had been gathering and getting increasingly darker throughout the day.

Once they got in the door, Amy headed upstairs to try on her dress, again, while Beth and Jo took the bags of food into the kitchen.

“Do you think they’re gonna share any of this food with us?” Jo asked, speaking of Amy and Laurie.

“They won’t need to, we still have plenty of leftovers from last night,” Beth told her, taking some items out of a grocery bag and immediately putting them in the fridge.

“Aww, leftovers…?” Jo whined. “They get the classy stuff and we get leftovers?”

Beth stopped and gave Jo a pointed look.

“…Tonight is not about us, Jo,” Beth reminded her. “We can survive on leftovers. We’ve done it before.”

“Yeah, but when you’re on vacation, you’re not supposed to be eating leftovers…” Jo grumbled.

“Well, I’m not on vacation, I live here,” Beth told her, as she continued to sort through groceries. “And I eat leftovers, and you’re in my house, which means you currently have to live by my rules, so you’re gonna eat leftovers too. And help make dinner for Amy and Laurie.”

Jo stared at her.

“…Wow,” she said, after a moment. “Out of all of us, I always thought Meg was gonna be the one who sounded the most like Marmee when she grew up.”

Beth rolled her eyes.

“Just start heating the stove, Jo,” she said.

“Yes, Marmee.”

Beth threw a dishcloth and it hit Jo square in the face.

\------

Sofia had hurried over from the restaurant as fast as she could, and while Jo and Beth ate their leftovers and Amy did God knows what up in her room, Sofia started making moussaka.

Jo and Beth did notice that the older woman was glancing out the kitchen window every couple of minutes, which was starting to make them a little nervous.

“Is everything okay Sofia?” Beth asked, getting up from the table and walking over to her.

“Oh, nai, nai, nai, everything good, everything good,” Sofia replied, dismissively. But she continued to look out the window with a worried look on her face.

Just then, a light rumble of thunder could be heard outside.

“…I’m sure the weather will hold off, right?” Jo asked, getting up as well, and walking over to Beth and Sofia. “And even if it doesn’t, it doesn’t look like it’ll be too bad. Maybe a little rain, but nothing too bad, right?”

Sofia made a kind of noise in her throat that didn’t really sound like a yes or a no.

“Jo,” said Beth, turning to her sister. “Why don’t you go check on Amy and see how she’s doing?” she suggested. “She’s probably a bit nervous. Just take her mind off things a bit.”

Jo nodded and left the kitchen to go upstairs.

Beth then turned to Sofia.

“…Just how big of a storm is this gonna be?” she asked, in a quiet voice, even though both her sisters were all the way upstairs.

“Well, it’s not gonna be small,” Sofia answered, still looking out the window. “It’s not gonna be big hurricane, but it’s not gonna be tiny little sprinkle, either.”

“Do you think any planes that are out there will still be able to land after it starts?” Beth asked.

Sofia finally tore her eyes away from the window and looked over at Beth.

“…Depends how soon they get here after it starts,” she told her.

Another rumble of thunder sounded then, and rain started to fall, hitting the kitchen window and soaking everything outside.

\------

Upstairs, Amy paced around her bedroom while Jo sat on the bed and watched her.

Amy looked absolutely gorgeous. She had her hair done up in an elegant bun, she was wearing dark blue jewelled earrings, with a necklace that matched, and her dress was deep blue (which she loved because it reminded her of the ocean, and she and Laurie had loved spending time at the beach) and sleeveless, with a v-neck that showed just a little cleavage.

She was a vision of loveliness. She was also a nervous wreck.

Amy huffed and sighed as she paced up and down the length, and width, of her large bedroom, causing Jo to regard her with a frown.

“Good Lord, you’re not going into labour, are you?” she asked.

Amy stopped pacing and gave her a look that clearly said ‘are you serious’.

“Just checking!” said Jo, putting her hands up in a defensive motion. “Amy there’s no need to get so stressed. He loves you.”

“I know,” Amy replied, as she continued to pace.

“And he’ll be here.”

Another clap of thunder sounded outside, which causes Amy to stop and look out her window at the rain, then she glanced back over at Jo.

“He will!” Jo insisted.

Amy nodded and started pacing again.

“I know…” she repeated.

“Then what has you so worked up?” Jo asked.

“I haven’t seen the guy in six months, Jo!” Amy reminded her. “Am I not allowed to be just a little nervous about seeing him again? And six months is, it’s a long time! What if he’s changed?...What if I’ve changed?”

“Amy, no matter how much either of you have changed, you both still love each other, and that’s all that’s important,” Jo told her.

Amy stopped pacing again and turned to Jo.

“…Is it?” she asked, then she sat down on the bed next to her sister.

“What if he gets bored living here?” Amy wondered aloud. “Before, he was just here for vacation, but I’ve chosen to live here, and will he be able to do that? Will he be able to work on the island? He just started getting his life together so he could be a proper adult – “

“ – Amy he got his life together because he wanted you to be proud of him,” said Jo.

“Maybe, but I don’t just want him to do things because he cares about what I think!” Amy told her. “I want him to be happy, too! Otherwise, he’ll grow up resenting me for turning him into someone he didn’t want to be - !”

“ – Amy! Amy, listen,” Jo interrupted, taking her sister by the shoulders and turning her to face her. “Laurie was the one who decided to go and work for his grandfather. You didn’t tell him to do that. He knows he can do whatever he wants to do when it comes to making a living, and when he gets to the island, he’s probably already got a plan for that. That’s probably why he didn’t just drop everything and fly here the day he got your letter, he wanted to settle things in London before he got here! He wanted to do the responsible, smart thing! He knows what he’s doing, Amy. You’re not forcing him into anything.”

Amy looked back out the window at the pouring rain, that seemed to be coming down harder by the minute, and glanced back at Jo.

“…Do you think he’ll be here soon?” she asked, in a small voice.

Jo gave her sister a reassuring smile and put her arm around her shoulders, giving her a light squeeze.

“I know he will,” she replied.

\-------

Sofia and Beth were just finishing up adding all of the moussaka’s ingredients together in a pot on the stove when the power went out.

Luckily, the stove operated with a pilot light, so it didn’t need electricity and could still heat the moussaka and keep it warm.

Beth fumbled around to find the drawer in the kitchen that stored the matches. When she found it, she lit a lantern on the counter, and then went over to light the candles on the table.

Outside the kitchen, they heard shuffling and fumbling on the stairs.

“Amy, be careful on the stairs!” Beth called out, not wanting her pregnant sister to trip and fall in the dark.

“I’m okay!” Amy called out, and appeared in the kitchen doorway a moment later. Jo was right behind her, holding her elbow.

“Yeah, I’m fine too by the way,” Jo added, sarcastically.

Beth rolled her eyes and smiled.

They all jumped as another rumble of thunder sounded.

“…He can still make it here, right Sofia?” Amy asked, her nervousness clear in her voice.

“Nai, sure, ‘course,” Sofia replied, a little too quickly for Amy to believe she was being honest. Then Sofia grabbed the lantern and turned to Jo.

“You, tall one,” she said, beckoning to her.

“Jo,” Jo reminded her.

“Nai, Jo. You come with me, we check the house for any leaks coming through the roof OK?” she told her. “Lazaros always say no rain ever gonna come through this house, but he lie a lot. So you and me check, okay?”

“Uh,” Jo glanced over at Amy and Beth, who shrugged. “…Okay.”

“Good,” Sofia then opened a few of the cupboards next to the stove and took out some bowls and pots, then handed them to Jo. “Let’s go.”

“Wait, what’re these for?” Jo asked, looking down at the pots and bowls in her arms.

“Well, how do you catch water from a leaky roof where you’re from, huh?” Sofia retorted. “You stand under it and catch water with your mouth open? Pots will catch rain water! Let’s go!”

Sofia marched Jo out of the kitchen and Beth and Amy tried not to giggle as their sister glanced back at them looking very nervous.

Twenty minutes later, Jo and Sofia returned to see Amy and Beth sitting at the kitchen table. Amy looked slightly hopeless as she slowly waved her hand around the flame of one of the candles.

“There’s a couple of leaky spots in the living room and dining room, but other than that, we’re in good shape,” Jo told them.

Beth managed a smile. “That’s great,” she said. “Thanks for checking for us, guys.”

Beth turned to Amy, who was still playing with the candle flame.

“Isn’t that great, Amy?” Beth asked. “A big storm like this and only a couple little leaks.”

Amy grunted in response, not taking her eyes off the candle.

Beth glanced over at Jo and Sofia.

“Amy’s very grateful for your help,” she told them.

Jo chuckled, and Sofia gave Amy a sympathetic look.

Amy laid her head down on the table and moaned. Sofia quickly walked over and laid a soothing hand on her back.

“He’s not coming,” Amy whimpered, lifting her head and looking at Sofia, then Beth. “This isn’t just a storm, it’s a bad omen. It’s probably a bad omen for him, too. He probably heard there was gonna be a bad storm here tonight and thought, ‘well, that’s my sign! Guess Amy’s not worth it after all!’”

“He did not!” all three women insisted, at the same time.

“It’s after 9 o’clock,” Amy pointed out.

“So what?” Jo asked. “You got a bedtime or something?”

“Amy, the food is still warming in the oven,” Beth reminded her. “We have lanterns and candles to last us ‘til morning, and Laurie still has time to catch the last ferry to the island.”

“And if not, he can bribe someone to bring him here,” Jo added.

“The storm’s just getting worse…” Amy mumbled, and Beth saw a tear roll down her cheek in the dim candlelight.

Just then, they heard a loud banging on the front door and all four women jumped.

Amy stood up from her chair.

“Do you think that’s him?” she asked.

“Wait, you stay here, all of you,” Sofia instructed, and took one of the extra pots from Jo. “You never know who could be out in storms like this.”

The old woman then headed out of the kitchen, brandishing the pot like a club.

“Be careful, Sofia!” Beth called after her.

They heard Sofia open the front door and loud voices suddenly filled the front of the house. One of the voices belonged to Sofia, and the other one was…Lazaros.

Amy glanced over at Beth, and Beth looked over at Amy, then they both rushed out of the kitchen toward the front door, with Jo close behind.

When they got to the front door they saw Lazaros, soaked to the bone, wearing a pea-green rain coat, his shaggy hair plastered to his face and neck.

Sofia had put the pot down on a nearby endtable in the living room, and she was angrily speaking to Lazaros in Greek as he replied to her in Greek, sounding nervous and nearly hysterical.

“Lazaros, are you alright?” Beth asked.

“You’re soaked to the bone!” Amy cried. “You must be freezing! Jo, go get some towels from the linen closet, upstairs!”

“No, no! I fine! I fine!” Lazaros insisted. “You just…I couldn’t call you on the phone.”

“Yeah, our power’s out,” Beth told him.

“Is anybody else’s power out?” Amy asked.

“Yes, quite a few houses,” Lazaros told them. “Common in storm like this. Restaurant has backup generator, but no point if nobody going out in storm to eat, right?”

Sofia smacked him on the arm and said something angrily in Greek.

“I know! I getting to it!” the man insisted, then he turned to look at Amy.

And Amy noticed that his eyes actually looked a bit sad.

“…Lazaros, what’s going on?” she asked. “Did something happen?”

Lazaros sighed.

“Was listening to radio in restaurant,” he told her. “Had special news report about something that happened on mainland.”

Amy suddenly couldn’t breathe.

“…They say, about an hour ago, because of storm, plane crash down in Athens, just before it reach airport.”

“…And what happened to the people onboard?” Beth asked, in a quiet, fearful, voice.

Lazaros’s eyes suddenly looked very sad as he glanced over at Amy, then glanced down at the floor, not being able to hold her gaze.

He mumbled something in Greek and tears appeared in Sofia’s eyes, and she let out an anguished sob.

Beth clapped a hand over her mouth.

Jo gasped.

Amy fainted.


	11. I'm at the Point of No Returning

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please still love me! Here's chapter 11!

Jo had luckily caught Amy just before her body had hit the ground, but she struggled under Amy’s extra weight. Luckily, Lazaros was able to (with just a little bit of struggle) pick her up and take her over to the couch.

Beth got a damp washcloth to lay on Amy’s forehead.

Jo took a blanket off the back of the couch and laid it over Amy.

Lazaros held the lantern so they could see while doing all this And Sofia rubbed Amy’s arms and patted her hands to bring her back to consciousness.

Amy finally opened her eyes after a minute, and saw four people standing over her, their faces showing obvious concern in the dim light.

She loved them all, she really did. And she loved that they were all there, and that they all cared about her.

Despite all that, though, her mind still flashed to the one person she cared about who wasn’t there, who was supposed to be.

…A person who was probably dead.

She started to sob, and Beth crouched down and enveloped her in a hug. Jo, tears in her own eyes, sat down on the ground next to Beth and held Amy’s hand.

Amy heard Sofia say something to Lazaros that she translated to mean, “go make tea”, so he disappeared into the kitchen.

Eventually, they were able to get Amy to move upstairs to her bedroom.

Jo and Beth took off her jewelry, undid her hair, and helped her slip off her beautiful new dress, and got her into a night gown.

Wordlessly, Amy laid down in her bed, pulled the covers up, and faced the window as the rain continued to fall, and the thunder and lightning continued throughout the night.

Amy had not yet eaten any dinner that night, since she had planned to eat with Laurie. Sofia put a small amount of moussaka in a bowl and tried to get her to eat; even holding the spoon against her lips like a mother would do with a baby. But Amy refused to eat.

Amy refused to eat. Amy refused to speak.

And even as the hour got later, and the others drifted off to sleep (Beth in the bed with Amy, Jo on the floor, Sofia in the spare room, and Lazaros on the couch downstairs), Amy couldn’t manage to do that either.

\------

“Amy…Amy…”

Amy felt something pushing on her shoulder and woke up to see Beth standing over her, a concerned look on her face. This time, Amy didn’t sit bolt up right with shock at seeing her sister staring at her while she slept. She didn’t really move at all.

Amy never wanted to leave her bed ever again.

“It’s morning Amy,” Beth told her. “The storm’s over.”

Amy grunted in response.

“Do you want some breakfast?” Beth asked.

“No.”

“Are you sure?” Beth asked. “Jo and I made your favourite - French toast. We also still have plenty of Sofia’s moussaka from last night. Sofia and Lazaros both had to go check on their own houses to see if there was any flooding from the storm, they said the restaurant’s gonna open a bit later today.”

“Huh.”

“Are you sure you don’t want anything to eat? You haven’t eaten since yesterday.”

“I’ll survive.”

“You have to eat, Amy. You still have a growing unborn baby to look out for,” Beth reminded her.

Hearing this, Amy finally did sit up, and she glared at her sister.

“…I know full-well the responsibilities I have to my child, Beth,” she told her, coldly. “I have always been aware of those responsibilities, because I was always willing to raise this child on my own. Don’t you remember? Don’t you remember that it was _your_ idea for you to stay here and live with me. I didn’t invite you, you invited yourself. I was ready and willing to raise this baby alone and by myself, but you wouldn’t hear of it! So here you are! You were also the one who manipulated Meg and Jo into coming here so they would find out about my baby, without just letting me tell them on my own time. And you have been _pushing_ and _pushing_ and _pushing_ for me to write to Laurie again. Well, I did! You got things to go _your_ way in _my_ life, so please, now, God, _just leave me alone_!”

Amy then yanked the blankets up to her chin, turned away from Beth and faced the window.

Speechless, Beth took that as her cue to leave and backed out of the room, closing the door softly behind her.

Down in the kitchen, Jo sat at the table and was pouring yet another cup of coffee for herself, while she could only pick at her French toast. She let the tears fall down her cheeks, but as she heard Beth coming down the stairs and toward the kitchen, she furiously wiped them away.

Laurie had been her best friend. He was the only guy she ever had any kind of close relationship with. Sure, he’d never been honest about how he’d fallen for her sister, but apparently, he’d wanted to make sure he could win her back first.

Just like how Amy had wanted to be sure of his feelings for her before she told him about the baby, in-person.

The more Jo had thought about the two of them as a couple, over the past few weeks, the more it had made more and more sense to her.

Amy was a determined person, who always went after what she wanted. So, of course, if anyone could’ve inspired Laurie to get off his butt and make something of himself, it would be her.

Amy’s tastes had always been just a bit more elegant and refined then that of her sisters, whereas Laurie loved to have fun in every possible situation, no matter how stuffy the party he was attending. Amy needed someone like that to help her let loose, when her sisters (specifically Jo, the wildest of the March girls) couldn’t be there.

They had apparently made a great couple, according to Sofia. Jo knew them both well enough to know that they not only both deserved to be loved, but that they would also be amazing at loving someone else. And they had chosen each other.

But of course, love was never easy. And now, Amy would be raising a baby on a Greek island on her own. Jo hated the fact that she would have to leave soon to go back to New York, but while her job was flexible, she still had to work to make money to support herself. And she loved New York.

And if this trip had taught her anything, it’s that you need to tell people you care about them while you still can…so when she got back to New York, the first thing she’d do is call Friedrich.

Luckily, Amy still had Beth here with her, so she would not be alone…despite probably feeling that way right now.

As if on cue, Beth walked into the kitchen. She stopped and took in the sight of Jo sitting at the table, sniffling and picking at her French toast.

“Do you want me to make you something else?” Beth asked.

Jo managed a watery smile and shook her head.

“No, I’m just not hungry right now,” Jo replied. “Thanks, though.”

Beth nodded and sat down at the table, next to Jo.

“How’s Amy?” Jo asked.

Beth gave her a solemn look.

“She’s not good, Jo,” she told her. “I’m doing all I can to help her. All I’ve been doing for the past six months is trying to help her. But Laurie…Laurie’s what she really needs. And now she can’t have him with her and – well, she certainly doesn’t want my help right now.”

And suddenly, it was like a switch had been flipped, and Jo was furious.

She got up and stormed out of the kitchen, barely hearing Beth as she called after her.

She marched up the stairs, walked purposefully toward Amy’s room, and threw the bedroom door open.

She marched up to the bed and stared angrily down at the large blanket-covered lump that was her youngest sister.

“Hey,” she said. “Hey!”

“Go away,” came a faint grumble from underneath the blankets.

Jo scoffed and pulled the blankets right off of Amy.

“Damnit, Jo…!” Amy shouted, sitting up and looking at her sister with irritation.

“Oh, I’m sorry, are you miserable? Well, join the club,” Jo retorted, tossing the blankets on the ground. “You are not the only one who is in mourning for Theodore Laurence, Amy. Stop acting like you’re the only person who matters here.”

“I’m not!” Amy spat. “I’m just trying to be left alone! So, leave me alone!”

“No, what you’re doing is feeling sorry for yourself and playing the grieving widow,” Jo told her. “And before now, you had been feeling sorry for yourself and playing the jilted lover. Well, guess what? The world is not all about you!”

“I _know_ \- !”

“ – Shut up, I’m not done!” Jo snapped. “You have never been alone while you’ve been on this island, Amy. I know you were originally planning on it, and your willingness for independence is admirable, but guess what? When people care about you, they do everything they can to make you feel like you’re not alone, whether you want to be or not. And that is what Beth has been doing for months. _Months._ Laurie or no Laurie. You have Beth here with you because she wants to be here, and because she wants to help you take care of your baby. And now, when you’re at your most heartbroken, and she’s here, wanting to help you, you’re just gonna treat her like crap and turn her away? Like she doesn’t matter? Sofia and Lazaros were here the whole night last night, checking on you, making sure you were OK. And they’ve been doing that for months, even though they don’t need to! They’re not relatives, why should they care? But they do. I’ve been here for weeks because I care. Meg has been constantly sending letters ever since she left because she cares. But what the hell does any of it matter, right Amy? Your world is over, you lost the man you love, so you automatically have no one, right?”

Amy stared up at her with tears in her eyes.

“…Ever since I walked out on him, I’ve been telling myself not to hope for anything,” Amy told her. “When I decided to stay here, I told myself that I would work hard, and build a life for myself and my child, and never live like he would be coming back one day, and everything would be perfect…because that just wasn’t realistic. But then you told me what he said, and I began to hope again. I hoped so much that I invited him to back here, believing that we really would live happily ever after. But he’s gone now because fairy tales aren’t real, and big romantic endings only happen in movies.”

Jo said nothing, she only stared at her.

“…I’ve spent my whole life hoping for things, Jo,” she said. “ _Especially_ for Laurie. And reality just always hits back in the hardest, cruelest ways and I’m just sick of it, okay?”

Jo sighed. “Scooch over,” she said. Amy huffed and moved over in the bed, making room for Jo to sit.

Jo sat down next to Amy and gazed at her, with a thoughtful expression.

“Life is not over for you, Amy,” she told her, and placed her hand on her pregnant belly “…Life is still just beginning. And I know it sucks sometimes, and you get days like this one that are downright devastating. But that doesn’t mean you should ever stop hoping for things. Without hope, you’re just moving through your life with no ambitions, no dreams, no passions, no inspirations…no spark at all. And you, Amy March,” Jo then placed a finger under Amy’s chin to lift it, so she would look at her “…have always had a beautiful spark inside of you. Please don’t let that spark die out. Nobody who loves you would want that. Laurie wouldn’t want that.”

Amy said nothing for a moment, but eventually she nodded. Jo wrapped an arm around her, and Amy laid her head on her shoulder.

\------

An hour later, Amy trudged into the kitchen, wearing a nightgown and her fluffy pink bathrobe, the belt of which just barely tied together across her belly. Her hair was down, but brushed, and though she was out of bed, she was still clearly not leaving the house that day.

“…I thought you were taking a shower?” Jo asked, as she stood at the counter and fiddled with the dial on the radio.

“I did,” Amy replied. “I blow-dried my hair…then I changed into a new nightgown.”

Jo glanced over at Beth, who was sitting at the table eating some French toast. Beth shrugged, so Jo looked back at Amy and also shrugged.

Amy rolled her eyes and went to sit down at the table next to Beth.

Amy glanced over at Beth and then immediately looked down at the table.

“…I’m sorry I’m such a bitch,” she said. “You’ve been amazing these past months, and I just continue to be a bitch.”

“You are not, Amy,” Beth told her, reaching her hand across the table, Amy automatically put her own hand over it. “It’s been a bad day for all of us.”

Amy nodded, still looking down at the table as she felt her chin start to quiver and her eyes fill up with tears.

She finally looked over at Beth, and saw nothing but love in her sister’s eyes.

“…Please don’t leave me, okay?” she asked, her voice trembling. “Not yet, anyway?”

Beth gave her a small smile. “I won’t.”

“I really need you.”

“I need you too,” Beth told her. “I’m not going anywhere, Amy.”

Jo glanced down at the frying pan and started taking more bread out of the bag. She was determined to get her sister to eat. “Amy – “

“ – AMY!”

The three sisters all froze at the sound of the loud male voice, accompanied by the sound of the front door slamming shut.

“…Amy, are you here?”

Beth looked over at Amy, her eyes wide.

But Amy wasn’t looking at her. She was frozen in her chair, staring at a spot on the table. 

It was like her eyes refused to move from that spot.

But while Amy's body language gave nothing away, those wide eyes of hers spoke volumes.

Beth’s turned her head to look over at Jo, whose eyes were also wide in shock.

  
The two older sisters turned toward the kitchen doorway, and Beth got up to stand over by Jo as they heard someone moving around the living room, then coming back toward the kitchen.

…And suddenly, there he was.

Theodore “Laurie” Laurence was standing in their kitchen.


	12. Take a Chance on Me

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh my gosh, I am so glad to get to do this today. Tuesdays I actually work extra long days at my job, so my brain is fried right now and I just want some joy...and posting this for you guys gives me joy.  
> And just FYI, this is a longer chapter than the last few (I mean, Laurie's back, so it would have to be, right?).  
> Enjoy!!!

“…I forgot how big this place is!” Laurie exclaimed, with a chuckle, and he smiled at Beth and Jo. “Hey guys!”

“…’Hey guys’?” Jo repeated. “’HEY GUYS’…?!”

Beth looked back over at Amy. But Amy was still sitting in her chair, with her back to them.

Amy wasn’t sure if she couldn’t move or if she just didn’t want to. It wasn’t real. It couldn’t be real. He couldn’t be here, standing in her kitchen.

Jo marched right over to Laurie and smacked him, hard, on the arm.

“ _Ow_ , Jo…!”

“WE THOUGHT YOU WERE DEAD, YOU JACKASS!”

Laurie frowned in confusion, then looked over at the table, where Amy was still sitting, with her back to him.

“Wait, you – Amy?” he started to walk over to her. “Amy, are you alright?”

“…You’re alive,” was all Amy could say.

“Yes, I’m alive,” Laurie told her. “Now can you at least look at me?”

Amy stayed quiet for a moment. Then she let out a long, steady breath, and pushed her chair back.

Beth and Jo shared another wide-eyed look.

…This was it.

Amy stood up from her chair and turned to face Laurie.

Laurie took in her appearance, his gaze stopping on her large pregnant belly, and his own eyes went wide.

“You’re pregnant!”

“You’re alive,” Amy replied.

“I – but – you – you’re pregnant?” Laurie stammered.

“You’re alive!” Amy replied, sharply.

“Is this an argument?” Beth asked Jo, in a low voice as they watched the two of them.

“Honestly, I’m not sure,” Jo replied, in an equally low voice.

“But, I mean, how - ?”

“ – How?” Amy exclaimed. “Did you just ask me ‘how’? Guys, he just asked me ‘how’!”

“Maybe his grandfather never had The Talk with him,” Jo suggested.

“No, I know that!” Laurie insisted, glancing around at all of them, then back at Amy. “I just meant, I…well…”

Amy’s expression suddenly darkened.

“If you’re about to ask me who the father is, I’m gonna kill you right here in this kitchen,” Amy told him. “…With a spatula.”

“Oooh…” Beth and Jo chorused, with tones of admiration.

“Guys, please…!” Laurie gave the other two a frustrated look, then he turned back to Amy.

“…Why didn’t you tell me?” Laurie asked her. “In that letter you sent me, why didn’t you say anything?”

Amy shrugged, and looked down at the ground.

“I wanted to tell you in person…” she mumbled.

“Teddy, how are you even here?!” Jo asked. “We heard a plane went down in the storm last night – “

“ – Oh! No, I took a plane here this morning!” Laurie explained, glancing between Jo and Amy as he spoke. “I was going to take the one last night, but I was too late booking a ticket, and then there were no more planes going out because of the storm, so I had to wait to take one this morning!”

“…So, you weren’t on the plane that crashed,” said Amy, sounding like she was speaking to herself as much as to Laurie.

“I wasn’t on the plane that crashed,” he told her.

“And you’re here,” she said “…standing in my kitchen.”

“I am,” he said, taking a step toward her and reaching for her hand. “…And you’re pregnant.”

Amy nodded. “I am,” she replied, gently tucking her hand back, refusing to hold his.

He frowned at her, but she wasn’t looking at him. Instead, Amy chose to keep her gaze on an empty spot just over Laurie’s right shoulder.

“…You think she’s gonna pass out again?” Jo asked Beth, as they continued to watch the scene fold out in front of them.

“No, I think she’ll be OK this time,” Beth replied, with a smile.

Amy sighed, and finally looked Laurie in the eye. She had a serious expression on her face.

“Beth lives here with me,” she told him.

“I know,” he said. “You said that in your letter.”

“No, I mean…” Amy looked over at Beth and smiled softly. “…I mean Beth’s living here, meaning she’s not leaving. I need her here. She wants to help with the baby. She may leave one day, but that’ll be up to her. Got it?”

Laurie nodded, Amy’s no-nonsense tone clearly making him slightly nervous.

“Yeah, great, love it,” he said, and smiled over at Beth.

Beth smiled back.

“And I don’t wanna get married just because I’m pregnant,” Amy continued. “I’m not that girl. I don’t want that.”

Laurie nodded. “OK,” he said. “…I mean, your father’s probably gonna kill me, but – “

“ – Oh, don’t worry, Teddy, Dad and Marmee don’t know yet,” Jo told him.

“What?!” Laurie exclaimed, glancing at Jo, then quickly back to Amy. “…Your parents don’t know you’re pregnant?”

“Oh, good Lord…” Amy muttered, scrubbing her hands over her face.

“Jo, maybe we should let these guys have some privacy,” Beth suggested.

“What? No way! I’ve been waiting like a whole month for this moment!” Jo argued.

“Amy’s been waiting longer,” Beth reminded her.

“OK, but technically – “

“ – Jo, we’re going down to the beach. Move your ass,” said Beth, leaving no room for arguments.

“But I can’t hear them from the beach - !”

“ – GO, JO!” the other three shouted.

Jo sighed dramatically and walked out of the kitchen, Beth following close behind.

But just before she left, Beth looked back at Amy and gave her a wink, and a reassuring smile.

Amy winked and smiled back.

Once the other two left the room, Laurie opened his mouth to speak but Amy raised her hand to shush him.

They waited a beat, then they heard the front door shut.

Laurie tried a second time to speak, but Amy still kept her hand up, urging him to stay quiet.

“…You have to actually go out the door, Jo!” they heard Beth say.

“Damnit, Beth! I was trying to be stealthy!” Jo told her. “You ruined it! You ruined my stealth!”

They heard the door shut again, and this time Amy put her hand down.

“OK, they’re actually gone now, we can talk,” she said.

Laurie smirked, and oh, how Amy had missed that adorable smirk of his…

…But she wasn’t ready to tell him that, yet.

But then his expression quickly changed to a frown.

“Amy, why didn’t you tell me?” he asked, his voice low and quiet, despite the other two March sisters being out of hearing range.

“I told you, I wanted – “

“ – No, I mean, before you wrote that letter asking me to come back,” he said. “You never wrote me once to tell me about this. Why not, Amy?”

“You know why,” she told him. “…I was still angry back then.”

“So, if you hadn’t heard from Jo about my coming to see her in New York, you would’ve – what – kept this child’s existence a secret from me forever?!” Laurie asked, anger rising in his voice.

“…I’m not sure,” Amy admitted. “I never actually came to a final decision about that.”

“Amy, no matter how much I screw up – “

“ – You screwed up pretty bad, Laurie.”

“But I still deserved to know that you’re having my baby!”

“I found out the day that you left,” she told him. “So it was like everything was just happening all at once. I got sick on Fred’s boat, and I never get sea sick so – “

“ – Wait, Fred? As in Fred Vaughn?” Laurie asked, a tinge of jealousy in his voice. “Fred Vaughn was here? And you went out with him the day I left? Did you even know I was gone yet or – “

“ – Oh, do NOT try that double-standard bullshit with me, Theodore Laurence!” Amy snapped. “You believed you were still in love with Jo while we were still together, and you’re gonna accuse me of rushing into things with another guy?”

“…No, you’re…OK, I’m sorry,” Laurie said, with a sigh. “It’s just… _Fred Vaughn_. I know the guy! I hate that guy!”

“Wasn’t he one of your best friends?” Amy asked.

“He was, until his ego got to be a bit too much,” Laurie grumbled. “Him and his money…I grew up with money! And my hair’s just as nice as his, if not better! So, I don’t have his muscles or his stupid tan – “

“ Laurie – “

“ – And his stupid boat. I could get a boat…!”

“Hmm, so tell me again what it’s like to be sick of a man’s ego…?” Amy asked, dryly.

Instead of answering her, Laurie stopped ranting to give Amy a worried glance.

“…Wait, so you and Fred, did you…did you?”

Amy rolled her eyes.

“I was a bit too nauseous at the time to even think about having sex, Laurie,” Amy told him. “…And besides, Fred was a perfect gentleman.”

Laurie snorted with disgust.

“Fred has a lot of great qualities, Laurie,” Amy told him. “…And you have quite a few bad ones.”

“What is that supposed to mean?” Laurie asked.

“Laurie, while I was waiting for your reply to my letter, I thought about you, a lot.” Amy confessed. “And while I would think about you, I would remember things – things like how you’re constantly late. And how you love to be wild and free. And how you left in the first place because I found out that you were still in love with my sister – “

“ – I was never actually _in_ love - !”

“ – LET ME FINISH!” Amy yelled.

Laurie stayed quiet.

“…And how much longer would that have gone on if I hadn’t found that journal, Laurie?” Amy asked. “Maybe you would have actually _chosen_ Jo over me, eventually, and gone to New York to beg for her to be with you!”

“Amy -!”

“ – And if she had refused to be with you, and you came back to me, to _settle for me,_ would I have been able to trust you?” she asked. “There’s a lot of beautiful women on this island, Laurie, would I truly have been the only one you’d have in your bed?”

“…Amy, you’re freaking out over circumstances that didn’t even happen!” Laurie told her.

“…You realized that you loved me only after I broke up with you, Laurie,” Amy reminded him. “You were fawning over my sister for years when you knew she only thought of you as a friend, and you traveled around Europe in a drunken stupor after she finally confirmed that for you!”

“Meaning what?” Laurie asked, his voice still as loud as hers.

“Meaning maybe you only want things you can’t have!” Amy told him. “Laurie, I’m having a baby. I’m going to be raising a child. That is a life-long commitment. Is that really something you want to be a part of, for the rest of your life?”

Laurie stared at her.

“…Are you saying you don’t want me here after all?” he asked, his voice quiet now.

“I’m saying I want you to be sure that this is what you want, Laurie,” she said. “Because if you stay, our child is going to depend on you for things. _I’m_ going to depend on you for things. I don’t want you to say yes now if you’re just going to change your mind in a couple years, because if you leave again, it won’t just be my heart you’ll be breaking!”

Laurie stared at her for a moment.

“…Do you mind if I sit?” he asked, gesturing to one of the chairs at the table.

Amy nodded and he sat down. He gestured to the chair next to him, and with a relenting sigh, she sat down as well.

“…Amy, back in Massachusetts, for all those years that you, and me, and your sisters all grew up together – I was just a kid. We were all just kids, doing crazy stuff. Remember when you guys let me join your secret club?”

“The Pickwick Society,” said Amy, with a fond smile.

“Right, the Pickwick Society,” Laurie replied, with a matching smile. “…It seems like so long ago. It all seems like…like kid stuff.”

“Hey, don’t knock the Pickwick Society…!” she demanded.

“No! I’m not, I’d never insult the Pickwick Society!” Laurie insisted. “What I’m getting at is, that was around the same time I had all those feelings for Jo. I look back on that period now and all I see is how I was a boy with a crush.”

“So…?”

“So, when I found you again, here on this island, you made me realize that it was time for me to grow up,” he continued. “You made me realize that I wasn’t a kid anymore, and that not only was it time to start acting like the man I wanted to be, but to actually _be_ that man.”

“And what does that mean?” Amy asked.

“It means that I’m not dwelling on the past anymore,” he said. “Instead, I’m looking forward to the future. And I want you to be in my future.”

Then he looked down at her pregnant belly.

“…Actually, ever since I walked into this kitchen, I’ve wanted you _both_ to be in my future,” he continued. “And I really, _really_ want to be in yours.”

Laurie then went to place his hand on her belly, ever so gently, but he glanced up at Amy just before he touched it, to make sure he had permission to do so.

Amy nodded, and Laurie placed his palm gently on her round stomach.

Then he laughed as they both felt the baby move inside of her.

“…We want you there, too,” Amy whispered, almost like she was making a wish.

Laurie lifted his gaze back to her face, and there was nothing but love in his eyes.

“…I missed you,” she said, finally.

He smiled, leaned forward, and kissed her.

She kissed him back, wrapping her arms around him and holding on tight.

\------

“…So why did it take you so long to come out here, after you got my letter?” Amy asked, as she and Laurie sat at the table and ate French toast.

Since Amy was already pregnant, and Laurie was already on Kalolairi and knew she was pregnant, there wasn’t really much point of them taking things too slow in this new chapter of their relationship.

But they did still have a lot of talking to do.

So, for the past half hour, that’s what they had been doing. Eating French toast and talking.

…Amy had already consumed more French toast than Laurie, but he was smart enough not to say anything about that.

“It wasn’t that long…” Laurie told her.

“It felt long,” Amy grumbled, picking at her breakfast. “Then again, Anastasia says everything feels long when you’re going into your third trimester.”

“Who’s Anastasia?”

“My doctor here on the island,” she replied, putting a forkful of French toast in her mouth. “…She’s Sofia’s daughter, too.”

“Sofia?” Laurie asked. “As in, Aunt March’s housekeeper?”

Amy nodded. “Aunt March’s housekeeper, Lazaros’s mother – “

“ – Lazaros’s _mother_?!”

“ – The farmhouse’s landlord’s sister, and mine and Beth’s personal fairy godmother,” Amy finished, with a smile.

“Wow…I guess it’s good we know Sofia!” Laurie remarked. “It sounds like she’s got every connection we could ever need!”

“Sofia is not a connection, Sofia is family,” Amy corrected him. “She’s really been there for us ever since we decided to stay…and you still haven’t answered my question.”

Laurie actually smiled a bit sheepishly then.

“…Well, it took me a few days to finally travel out here because I wanted to have a plan,” he said. “I didn’t just want to show up at your doorstep with nothing. How would that prove I was finally an adult? I went to work for my grandfather’s business in London so I could finally start acting like an adult, and save up some money, then I’d come and find you again and hopefully, you’d take me back because I wasn’t just someone you could love, but also someone you could respect…someone _anyone_ could respect.”

“That was your plan?” she asked.

“No, that was my original plan,” he told her. “After I got your letter, I asked my grandfather about starting my own branch of his business here on Kalokairi.”

“And what did he say?”

“Well, most of the conversation over the phone was staticky due to it being long distance, but when I pitched him my business idea, I heard his laughter pretty well.”

“Oh Laurie…”

“No, it’s OK. He was right, I was too young and inexperienced to take on that much work,” said Laurie. “He has an international business with an amazing reputation, and I’d only been working there for a few months. So…I came up with a new plan. Right there, on the spot.”

“Well, it’s gotta be a good plan if it was on the spot!” Amy joked.

“And how long did you plan out living alone on an island in a foreign country before you put that plan into motion?” Laurie asked, smirking.

“Touché. Continue.”

“Well, I decided to go into business for myself. Independently. All I asked him for was a small loan to help get me started…and for him to help me set up a business account at a bank in Greece. He paused for so long I thought we’d either gotten disconnected or he’d fainted.”

“And what did he finally say?” Amy asked.

“He agreed to give me the loan,” Laurie answered, grinning. “He also gave me some tips on how to open a business account at a foreign bank, and the names of some people he knew in Greece who could help get me started. Amy, he told me he was proud of me. It was the most surprised I’d ever been, well, until today. And that time when you punched me in the face…”

“You really shouldn’t’ve been surprised about that, you definitely deserved that punch in the face,” Amy pointed out.

“That’s very true, I did,” Laurie agreed, nodding. “…But Amy, even if he hadn’t agreed to give me a loan, I’d have found a way to come back here, anyway. I’d come here and busk in the street to make money if I could be near you.”

“You’d be terrible at busking,” Amy told him, smirking.

“Hey, I can sing.”

“No, you can’t.”

“Ok, then, I’d be a goat farmer,” he told her, with a smile. “I still might be, if this whole businessman thing doesn’t pan out.”

“We have lots of room to keep goats here,” said Amy.

“I know.”

“And they could give us milk and cheese. Goats would be a good investment, we should think about that.”

“We should. Amy - ”

“ – But there’s lots of time to think and talk about things,” Amy said, cutting Laurie off. “…Right now, I need to get some sleep.”

“Sleep?” Laurie asked.

Amy, who was already heading out of the kitchen to go back upstairs, stopped and quirked an eyebrow at Laurie.

“I barely slept all night,” she told him. “As far as I knew, you were dead. I was devastated, and the baby was moving all the time because that’s what the baby normally does when I try to sleep, so the combination of the circumstances really did nothing for my REM cycle. So yes, I am going to sleep. Or at least napping for a few hours. And you can tell Jo that if she tries to wake me up by stealing my blankets off me again, she will get hit in the face.”

“Why do you hit so many people in the face, Amy March?” Laurie asked, cracking a smile.

“I don’t hit everybody. Just you and Jo, mainly, because you two happen to bug me the most,” Amy replied.

“OK, that’s fair,” Laurie agreed. “But can I, uh…”

Laurie rubbed the back of his neck and Amy looked at him quizzically.

“…Can you what?” Amy asked.

“Well, it was a bit of a long night for me, too, waiting in that airport,” Laurie told her, his voice barely above a mumble as he avoided looking at her for a moment, then looked into her eyes with a shy expression. “Would you mind if I…slept…with you?”

Amy stared at him, as he looked at her sheepishly. Then her expression quickly turned to one of contemplation; she pursed her lips and squinted her eyes as she looked over at him, evaluating the notion of him sleeping in bed with her again, so soon.

“…I get up to pee a lot,” she finally said.

Laurie chuckled. “That’s okay,” he said.

“I toss and turn. Like I said, I don’t sleep well.”

“Okay.”

“I also sleep on the side closest to the window,” she continued. “I like to wake up to the view in the morning. And the way the breeze hits me – it’s nice, so I sleep on that side.”

“That’s fine by me,” he said, as he walked toward her. “It sounds fantastic, actually.”

“If you think it sounds fantastic, you should try being pregnant sometime,” Amy grumbled, but took his hand and led him out of the kitchen toward the stairs leading to the second floor. “Oh, it’s a hoot, believe me…”

“Uh, Amy? Shouldn’t we tell your sisters they can come back inside now?”

Amy stopped at the foot of the stairs, considering it.

“…Nah, they’re fine,” she said, and continued up the stairs, with Laurie in tow.

Ten minutes later, while Laurie and Amy were already sound asleep in the master bedroom, there was a pounding on the front door downstairs.

“…Can we come in now?!” Jo protested from outside the door. “It’s chilly out here and Beth wouldn’t let me get a sweater before she dragged me outside!”

\-------

Amy finally let Laurie let the other two back inside, after a couple minutes of listening to Jo whine on the other side of the door (which amused Amy to no end, especially since her older sister used to berate her for being the whiny one in the family). And after Jo and Beth had both taken some time to finally hug Laurie and let him know they were happy that he was alive and that he was there in Greece…everybody went back to bed. None of them had really slept the night before, so for the next few hours, the farmhouse was quiet as they all had a well-deserved nap.

When Amy led Laurie into the restaurant that afternoon, Sofia let out a scream and dropped the dirty dishes she’d been carrying.

Lazaros fainted.

After the initial moment of shock was over (and Lazaros was revived), Sofia set to work bringing Laurie food… _a lot_ of food. They all tried to explain to her that Laurie hadn’t actually had a near-death experience and that he had some lunch at the farmhouse, they just brought him here to say hi, but Sofia wouldn’t hear of it.

…Of course, first she stuck her wooden spoon in his face and made sure that he was there to stay and that his intentions with Amy were entirely honorable…. then she brought him the food.

It was a few hours until Sofia and Lazaros finally let them leave; having overly stuffed them all with food and making Laurie promise he would come back to visit with Amy tomorrow.

On the way home in the jeep, Beth was driving, Jo was in the front passenger seat and Amy and Laurie were in the back. Jo glanced at the young couple in the rear-view mirror and watched them talk in low voices, Amy’s head laid on Laurie’s shoulder, and Laurie stroking her hair with one hand while his other hand rested on her pregnant belly. They both had soft smiles on their faces.

Jo smiled, feeling a positive certainty deep in her heart.

Things were finally looking up….


	13. Gonna Do My Very Best, And It Ain't No Lie

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Aww...my cup runneth over with the lovely comments I get from you guys. Thank you for your love for the previous chapter! That one was honestly one of my favourites to write. This STORY has been one of my favourites to write, so I appreciate the love and send my own right back to you. :)

Dinner had been small (leftover moussaka from the previous night) since lunch had been so very, very big. They had all cleaned up the kitchen together and then retired to the living room. Amy and Laurie sat on the couch, with Amy putting a cushion on the coffee table to rest her feet on (Aunt March would be absolutely scandalized), and Beth and Jo sat on the adjacent loveseat.

That’s when Jo finally decided to speak up.

“…I’ve decided, my work here is done,” she said.

The other three gave her confused looks.

“What does that mean?” Amy asked.

“It means that tomorrow I am going to purchase a plane ticket for the first flight out of Greece,” she said. “It’s time for me to go home.”

They all started to argue, not wanting her to go, but Jo held up her hand for silence, and they stopped.

“I was supposed to go home the day after Meg,” she said. “But I had an excuse not to, being a freelance writer. I’m not expected to be in an office from 9 to 5, and I can write wherever I want. I also just wanted to make sure my two baby sisters were OK,” she said, smiling at Amy and Beth. “And plus, I just really wanted to see a happy ending to the drama, that’s the writer in me, I guess. And now that a happy resolution has been reached, I think all my curiosities are finally satisfied, and I can go home, back to New York.”

“It’s been so nice having you here, Jo,” Beth told her, smiling as she reached over and held her hand.

“It definitely hasn’t been as terrible as I thought it was gonna be,” Amy added, with a smirk.

Jo stuck her tongue out at her. Amy giggled and Laurie laughed.

“…Yeah, but this life you guys have here,” Jo continued, looking around at the three of them “…the life that you’re going to have here, it’s your story. I’m merely meant to be an observer, a visitor. I have my own story to build in New York. That’s where I belong.”

“Jo March, always so eloquent,” Laurie joked, but it was evident from the look in his eyes he was a little sad to see her go.

Jo shrugged. “It’s both a gift and a curse,” she replied.

\------

When it was time for Jo to head home a couple days later, they all went down to the dock to see her off on the ferry.

Jo first hugged Laurie, and Amy and Beth saw her whisper something to him before she pulled back and ruffled his hair, like she used to when they were kids. He laughed and gave her a playful shove and she laughed and went to hug Beth.

After saying goodbye to Beth, it was Amy’s turn.

Jo smiled as she approached Amy, and Amy smiled back, though cautiously.

“…Why are you looking at me like that?” Jo asked, with a smile.

“Well, every time you smile at me like that, it usually means trouble, and I don’t wanna get pushed off the dock and into the water,” Amy joked.

Jo rolled her eyes and groaned, overdramatically.

“I’d never push a pregnant woman off of a dock, stupid!” she told her. “…Though, I will probably save that for the next visit, after the baby’s born.”

“I have no doubt,” Amy replied, with a smile.

Jo smiled back, kissed her on top of her head and hugged her.

“You are gonna have an amazing life, Amy March, and it’s all your own fault,” Jo whispered in her ear.

Amy chuckled and was surprised to realize that she had tears in her eyes, as Jo pulled away.

She then realized that Jo’s eyes were also shining with unshed tears.

“You better write to me,” Jo told her. “I wanna hear everything. And don’t you dare trash my letters anymore.”

“I won’t,” Amy promised, sniffling and wiping her eyes.

“OK,” Jo stepped back and looked at the three of them. “Well, I guess this is it.”

“Let us know how it goes with the German guy,” Beth told her.

“Wait, what German guy?” Laurie asked.

Amy patted his shoulder. “Shhhh….” She whispered, with a silent promise to fill him in later.

Jo rolled her eyes and stepped onto the ferry with her luggage.

They all waved as the ferry pulled away from the dock, and kept waving and calling out goodbyes until it was out of sight.

Amy turned to Laurie. “What was it she said to you?” she asked.

Laurie smiled. “…She said I belonged here, so I better not screw it up.”

Amy and Beth both smiled.

Wherever they were in the world, the March sisters always had each other’s backs.

\------

Laurie, to his credit, was very respectful of Amy and Beth’s established roles and routines in their new life.

“Beth are you sure it’s OK that I go with her to the doctor? You can come too, that’s no problem!”

“Here, let me do that…is it OK if I do it?”

“Amy, do you need help?”

“Just let me know, Beth, I don’t want to intrude or anything…”

“I can fix that, if you like…?”

There were arguments, of course, as they all got used to their new living conditions.

Laurie and Beth did fall into an easy partnership when it came to dealing with Amy and her pregnancy – especially her mood swings. If Amy got overly upset and Beth had hit her limit with trying to calm her down, she would let Laurie know, if he was at home. Laurie would then go and check on Amy and Beth would go out to her studio to give herself a break.

If Laurie was with Amy and she was getting overly stressed out about something, causing him to get stressed, he would go and find Beth and she would go talk to Amy and calm her down.

Sometimes that worked, and sometimes they would just all be fed up with each other and retreat to their own spaces at the farmhouse. Amy liked to walk on the beach, Beth liked to spend time alone in her studio, and Laurie would write letters in the attic room, which they had made into an office space for him.

When Thanksgiving rolled around in November, Beth, being the saint that she was, took one for the team. She went back to Massachusetts for the week, by herself, to spend the holiday with the family.

Amy, unfortunately, could not come because she had been suddenly stricken with the flu…at least that was the excuse that they had come up with to explain her absence.

Amy was still too afraid to tell her parents about her pregnancy, and she didn’t think that showing up nine months pregnant for Thanksgiving would be a good way to break the news.

Laurie stayed back in Kalokairi with her, telling his grandfather that he was too swamped with work to stop for the holiday. And in all fairness, he was very busy, as he was still getting his business off the ground. But Amy did make sure that he took time to rest and relax, so he didn’t have any sort of mental breakdown mere weeks before the birth of their child.

To make up for them missing the American holiday, Sofia invited Amy and Laurie over for roast lamb, and even made cranberry sauce and her own version of stuffing.

Amy was so touched that she cried.

Her sobbing nearly went on for a full ten minutes before Laurie asked her if she was hungry, and they all sat down to eat.

Beth also cried when Amy told her about the meal, later that night, over the phone. She told Amy how big Daisy and Demi had gotten, how Jo had brought Friedrich to join them for Thanksgiving dinner, and how much everyone missed her and Laurie, and sent their love.

Beth also shared that Meg had secretly been knitting some baby clothes for Amy. She’d also packed up some of Daisy and Demi’s old clothes to send back to Greece with Beth.

Amy knew that keeping her secret had been difficult for Meg, as she lived closer to their parents than the other three did. She was also historically terrible at keeping secrets. Beth told her that Meg had taken to knitting in her bedroom at home, and hiding it in boxes in the closet, so that John and the kids couldn’t see. Although, she had been forced to tell John the truth when he’d walked into the bedroom one day, saw her knitting a bay onesie, and nearly had a heart attack.

Amy missed her family so much, but she knew she had to tell them about her pregnancy the right way…she just wasn’t sure what that way was yet. She had already scrapped the original letter she’d written to Marmee after her twelve-week scan. And Laurie had been urging her to write another one, but every time she sat down to write it, her mind drew a blank.

“Just do what you did with Laurie and ask Marmee to come visit you after Christmas,” Beth suggested, only half-joking as they unloaded her luggage from the jeep. “You’ll have the baby by then, and she can’t yell at you when you’re holding a baby, right?”

“Something tells me she’d find the time…” Amy grumbled.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Get ready guys, the big finale is right around the corner...! :)


	14. I've Been Waiting For You

November turned into December, and suddenly the countdown was on. While everyone on the island was rushing around preparing for Christmas, Amy, Laurie, and Beth were rushing around preparing for a baby.

The nursery was painted and fully furnished. They got two infant car seats for the jeep and for Laurie’s car (watching Laurie and Lazaros install the seats had been both hysterical and frustrating, as the men had insisted that they didn’t need any help). They had baby clothes in a range of sizes, and so many that the closet in the nursery was practically bursting at the seams (Sofia and Meg both insisted that at the rate that babies grow, you could never have enough).

They also had A LOT of diapers (but apparently that was also something you could never have enough of). And it seemed like whenever Amy answered the front door, there were women, both young and old, standing on her porch offering to be her nanny or babysitter.

Amy had no idea how she’d gotten so lucky in her life. She had sisters that loved her, a man that loved her and wanted to raise a child with her, and even a community in a foreign country that she’d just moved to that wanted to help her.

“Amy…” she heard Beth say, as she sat on the couch watching Laurie and Beth put lights on the Christmas tree. “…Amy, sweetie, why are you crying?”

“Oh,” Amy sniffed and rubbed at her cheeks with the back of her hand. “…It’s just…it’s a really beautiful tree,” she said. “You guys picked out a great tree. I love this tree.”

Laurie looked at Beth with a curious smile, and Beth looked at Laurie with a smile of her own and simply shrugged.

Still sniffling a little, Amy got up from the couch and started unboxing decorations to put up on the tree.

\------

A week before Christmas, Amy woke up, glanced out the bedroom window and saw that the sun was only just starting to rise.

She turned over and glanced at Laurie, who was sleeping soundly in bed next to her. She smiled and remembered their very first morning in bed together. She realized that once again, she was definitely not feeling “ungleeful” to be lying next to him.

Now that she was awake though, Amy couldn’t go back to sleep. Her sleeping pattern had been very stubborn that way, lately. So, she got out of bed and went to take a shower, then changed into a t-shirt and her favourite maternity overalls. She wrote a note for Beth and Laurie, then put on her jacket and shoes and went for a morning walk.

Though waking up at odd times of the morning could be frustrating, Amy did love taking walks at sunrise. The island was still quiet, and she had the walking paths to herself. She stopped and watched from the hill as the fishermen loaded their boats at the dock, preparing to go out for the day. And she looked out at the waves crashing on the beach, as the sun rose above the water and turned the sky different shades of pink and gold.

Amy smiled as something inside of her told her that it was going to be an amazing day.

But then she frowned as something else inside her gave her a slight pang of discomfort. Writing it off as a small cramp from walking for so long, Amy opted to walk just a little slower as she headed back home.

Amy continued to feel the small cramps as she walked back to the farmhouse, but luckily, they seemed few and far between. However, just as she got to the top of the hill that led from the beach to the farmhouse, she felt something else.

Amy clutched her belly as she felt something that was definitely not just a cramp.

Oh. Shit.

She breathed measured breaths as she walked across the yard and back into the farmhouse as calmly as possible.

But as soon as she walked through the front door, Amy realized it might be time to wake up the rest of the house.

“LAURIEEEEEE….!” She yelled. “BEEEEEETH…!”

She heard thumping and clamouring upstairs and then Beth and Laurie both appeared at the top of the staircase, both looking disheveled and just barely awake.

“What’s going on, Amy?” Laurie asked, rubbing his eyes.

“The miracle of life,” she replied.

Laurie and Beth both froze.

“…What?” Laurie asked.

“I’m in labour.”

\-------

Anastasia was away at a conference, she’d left a few days earlier.

…Which would have been fine, if there were ferries available to take them to the mainland, to get Amy to the hospital.

But there were none.

“…How are there no ferries available?!” Laurie yelled into the phone. “…A strike?! Who the hell goes on strike a week before Christmas…?!”

Just then. Sofia rushed through the front door.

Laurie immediately dropped the phone receiver and went over to her, the stress evident on his face.

“Sofia, there’s no ferries - !”

“ – Is OK, is ok!” Sofia insisted. “Where is Amy now?”

“She’s upstairs in our bedroom with Beth,” Laurie told her.

“OK, you go out and chop some wood for the stove in the bedroom,” Sofia told him, speaking of the small antique wood stove that Amy and Laurie kept in the corner of the room. Beth’s room also had one, and so did the music studio, and so did the nursery. Sofi had insisted to Amy that the small stoves would be useful, because even Greece had winter. December was the rainiest month of the year there, which also brought quite a chill with it.

“But Amy’s - !”

“You can’t have Amy’s baby for her, Laurie! Best way for you to take care of her is to make sure she’s comfortable and warm,” Sofia told him. “I go upstairs to be with her, you get to chopping wood.”

Laurie still tried to argue, so Sofia basically had to push him out the front door. She then called Lazaros to come by the farmhouse as soon as he could to help distract Laurie. Then she headed upstairs.

When she reached the bedroom, Amy was sitting on a cushion in the corner of the room, wearing a green maternity nightgown. She had her eyes closed and was rubbing her belly slowly, as Beth was kneeled next to her, speaking softly and reassuring her.

Amy opened her eyes, saw Sofia, and smiled weakly. Beth glanced over and, noticing Sofia, smiled also.

Their fairy godmother was here to save the day.

“Sofia, I don’t think I’m gonna make it to the hospital,” Amy told her, in a soft voice, sounding just a little scared.

“Is OK,” Sofia told her. “I told you, we have many homebirths on Kalokairi, they turn out fine.” She then walked over and put a hand on Amy’s cheek, and Amy covered her hand with her own. “…Everything gonna be fine.”

Beth got blankets from the hall closet. She also did the laundry to make sure they had more linens if they needed them.

Laurie chopped wood. He sat on the front porch and ranted to Lazaros about his worries and frustrations, and for his part, Lazaros was very good at listening and reassuring Laurie that everything would be fine. Laurie and Lazaros also did the dishes, played cards in the kitchen, and listened to the radio to pass the time.

Amy paced back and forth across the bedroom at least fifty times. When she got bored with that, she walked around the entire second floor another fifty times. She tried to nap. She tried to read. She tried to eat and drink to keep her strength up.

Beth would rub her back to try to soothe her. Sofia would wipe her forehead with a damp cloth. And, when Sofia would let him, Laurie would come upstairs and walk around with her, or hold her and tell her it was going to be alright.

They all took turns easing her through contractions. At one point, Amy stood over the bed and gripped the bed so tight, fighting through the pain, she thought she might actually tear holes in the mattress if she let go.

She cried to Sofia and begged her to help make it stop. Sofia would constantly tell her that it was just for a little longer, she just needed to hold on for a little longer…

And then, it was time.

Beth and Sofia got her in bed, having Amy lay back against the pillows, with her knees up. Beth held her hand the entire time. Sofia kept urging her to push, then relax, push, and relax.

Amy felt like she might die.

Laurie was close to hyperventilating himself as he paced up and down in the living room, wringing his hands, and listening to Amy scream and cry in the bedroom above him.

Finally, it was time for the last push. The biggest push, that made Amy feel like she was splitting in two.

...Then there she was.

The baby was definitely a little messy-looking at first glance, and as soon as Sofia cleared her airways, she was crying and screaming bloody murder. But after the older woman wiped her off a bit and gave her over to Amy’s waiting arms, she seemed to calm down just a little.

Amy looked down at the baby in her arms and started to sob.

She was here.

She was _finally_ here.

Amy had gone through so much pain (both mentally and physically) and so much growth (again, both mentally and physically) to get to this point, to hold her baby in her arms...and that moment was finally one that she was living.

She had never been happier in her entire life.

To hell with the Louvre. She may not be the aspiring artist she once was...but she had definitely created a masterpiece.

Beth and Sofia also had tears in their eyes. Sofia then left the room to go downstairs and get Laurie.

Sniffling, Beth gently sat down next to Amy on the bed.

‘She’s beautiful,” said Beth, gazing at the tiny baby.

Amy smiled through her tears.

“She’s perfect,” she said.

The bedroom door suddenly banged open and Laurie stood in the doorway, breathless.

Amy smiled over at him, holding their baby in her arms.

“…Hi,” she said.

Laurie smiled back.

“Hi,” he replied.

He walked over to the bed and Beth got up and let him take her spot, next to Amy. Sofia and Lazaros quietly stood in the doorway, both smiling as they watched the young family.

“Oh my God…” Laurie whispered, looking down at the baby. “She’s incredible.”

“Just like her mama,” said Beth.

Amy smiled even wider at the compliment.

“Do you have a name picked out?” Lazaros asked.

“Elizabeth,” Amy answered immediately, then looked over at Beth and winked.

New tears shone in Beth’s eyes now.

“Thank you,” she said.

Laurie smiled as he gazed down at the baby girl ( _his_ baby girl, _his and Amy's_ baby girl). After a moment, he looked back up the rest of the family that they’d formed on that island.

“…We decided that we’d call her ‘Bess’ for short," he said, with a smile.

“Oh, that’s a great name!” Beth gushed.

Amy then gently offered baby Bess over to Beth to hold, and Beth received her with gentle arms.

“Hello Bess March,” Beth cooed to her new namesake.

“Uh, Bess Laurence,” Laurie corrected her.

“ – Is a Geography teacher,” Amy told him. “Bess March is a superhero.”

“Alright then, how ‘bout a compromise?” Laurie offered. “Bess March-Laurence.”

Amy thought for a moment, then nodded.

“Done,” she said.

Laurie smiled and kissed her, while Beth made silly faces at her baby niece.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ...And to anyone reading who is not only into Mamma Mia and Little Women, but also Doctor Who(like me)...yes, that one part is from Doctor Who. I couldn't help it. I saw the opportunity and I took it.
> 
> SO THAT'S IT! THE END!  
> ........Oh, OK, fine. You can have an epilogue...


	15. Epilogue: My Love, My Life

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here we are again, old friend. You and me, on the last page...:)

Amy had just had a baby five days ago, and yet she felt stronger than she had ever been in her life.

She felt invincible. She was so happy it was like nothing could ever go wrong again.

…And it wasn’t just because it was Christmas.

She grinned as she watched Laurie and Beth open their presents as she sat on the couch and held baby Bess.

Laurie absolutely loved the new typewriter that Beth had gotten him. And Beth had loved the notebooks and blank pages of sheet music that he had gotten her, so she could write more of her own songs.

Beth and Laurie had also chipped in together and gotten Amy new paints and canvases.

Laurie had also gotten Amy a beautiful necklace. When he gave it to her, he whispered that someday soon, if she would have him, there would be another gift of jewelry in her future.

Beth loved the beautiful painting that Amy had painted to hang in her music studio, as well as the classical music records she’d bought for her.

Sofia, Lazaros, and even Anastasia stopped by later on that morning. Sofia and Anastasia gushed over the earrings they received from the three of them. Lazaros was delighted with his new bedazzled jacket, to wear when he performed his music at the restaurant.

As Amy sat on the couch and talked and laughed with these people that she had come to love and cherish so much, she truly knew in her heart that this was where she belonged, she and her baby.

She never thought this was a life she would ever have been brave enough to have. But thanks to the love and support of those around her, as well as her own courage and willingness to start anew, she saw herself going down a whole other road.

And later that day, keeping that courage at the front of her mind, and in her heart, she sat down to write a letter.

_Dear Dad and Marmee,_

_Happy holidays! I’m so sorry I haven’t written to you in a while, but it’s been so busy around here! Speaking of which, there has been something that’s been keeping me very busy as of late that I’ve been meaning to tell you about…_

THE END

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And that is OFFICIALLY a wrap on "Mamma Mia, Amy March!"  
> Thank you all SO MUCH for your amazing love and support during this story, it has meant the world to me. I love ths story, and I'm glad to know someone else out there has love for it, too. :)


End file.
